THE SHOE-
MAKER'S
APRON
CZECHOSLOVAK FOLK
and FAIRY TALES
PARKER. PILLMORE
$3.50
THE SHOEMAKER'S
APRON
Czechoslovak Fairy Tales and
l-<.lk
Retold in English by PARKER FJU.MORK
With illustrations and decorations by
JAN MATULKA.
collection of twenty stories, drawn
from original sources, and chosen for their
ty of subject and range of interest.
Here are fairy tales conceived with all the
gorgeousne< the Slavic imagination;
charming little pursery tales that might be
told in nurseries the world over; folk tales
illustrative of the wit of a canny people;
and rollicking devil tales as surprising to
the Anglo-Saxon imagination as they arc
entertaining.
They arc not in any sense academic
translations, but vivid renditions by a man
who, besides being a student of folklore,
an accomplished story-teller in his own
rigi
Har court, Brace and Company
383 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK I 7, N.Y.
LIBRARIES
3 3333 07626 0369
ROOAT,
l~" Ml Wl
< ^
THE SHOEMAKER'S
APRON
A Second Book of Czechoslovak
Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
RETOLD BY
PARKER FILLMORE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
AND DECOKATIONS BY
JAN MATULKA
NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
PARKER FILLMORE
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PROPERTY Of
CITY Of NEW YOtr
m.,
944566
NOTE
THE stories in this volume are all of Czech,
Moravian, and Slovak origin, and are to be
found in many versions in the books of folk tales
collected by Erben, Nemcova, Kulda, Dobsinsky,
Rimavsky, Benes-Trebizsky, Miksicek. I got them first
by word of mouth and afterwards hunted them out in
the old books. My work has been that of retelling rather
than translating since in most cases I have put myself
in the place of a storyteller who knows several forms of
the same story, equally authentic, and from them all
fashions a version of his own. It is of course always
vi NOTE
the same story although told in one form to a group
of children and in another form to a group of soldiers.
The audience that I hope particularly to interest is the
English-speaking child.
Some few of the stories — such as Nemcova's very
beautiful Twelve Months and Erben's spirited Zlatov-
laska and to a less degree Nemcova's hero tale, Vitazko
— are already in such definitive form that it would be
profanation to " edit ' them. They — especially the
first two — have been told once and for all. But the
same cannot be said of most of the other stories.
Nemcova's renderings are too often diffuse and incon-
sequential, Kulda's dry, pedantic, and homiletic.
Erben, the scholarly old archivist of Prague, seems to
me the greatest literary artist of them all. His chief
interest in folklore was philological, but he was a poet
as well as a scholar and he carried his versions of the
old stories from the realm of crude folklore to the
realm of art.
A small number of the present tales have appeared
in earlier English collections coming, nearly always,
by way of German or French translations. In the
one case they have been squeezed dry of their Slavic
exuberance and in the other somewhat dandified. So
I make no apology for offering them afresh.
NOTE vii
Variants of most of the tales are, of course, to be
found in other countries. Grimm's The White Snake,
for instance, is a variant of Zlatovlaska. My rule of
selection has been to take stories that do not have well-
known variants in other languages. I have to confess
that The White Snake is very well known, but here
I break my own rule on account of the greater beauty
of the Slavic version.
In Grimm there are also to be found variants of A
Gullible World (The Shrewd Farmer], The Devil's
Little Brother-in-Law (Bearskin), Clever Manka
(The Peasant's Clever Daughter), The Devil's Gifts
(The, Magic Gifts), The Candles of Life (The
Strange Godfather and Godfather Death), The Shoe-
maker's Apron (Brother Jolly). In all these tales the
same incidents are presented but with a difference in
spirit and in background that instantly marks one
variant Teutonic and its fellow Slavic. Moreover, as
stories, the German versions of these particular tales
are neither as interesting nor as important as the Slavic
versions.
Both German and Slavic versions go back, in most
cases, to some early common source. Take Clever
Manka, for instance, and its German variant, The
Farmer's Shrewd Daughter. Clever Manka is very
viii NOTE
popular among the Czechs and Slovaks and is con-
sidered by them especially typical of their own folk
wisdom and folk humor. And they are right: it is.
But it would be rash to say just how early or how
late this story began to be told among the peoples of
the earth. The catch at the end appears in a story
in the Talmud and at that time it has all the marks of
a long and honorable career. The story of the devil
marrying a scold, another great favorite with the Slavs,
also has its Talmudic parallel in the story of Azrael,
the Angel of Death, marrying a woman. The Azrael
story contains many of the incidents which are used in
different combinations in some half-dozen of the folk
tales in the present collection. And yet when com-
parative folklore has said all that it has to say about
variants and versions the fact remains that every
people puts its own mark upon the stories that it
retells. The story that, in the Talmud, is told of
Azrael is Hebrew. The same story passed on down the
centuries from people to people appears finally as
Gentle Dora or Katcha and the Devil or The
Candles of Life and then it is essentially Slavic in
background, humor, and imagination.
Besides its fairy tales and folk tales the present
volume contains a cluster of charming little nursery
NOTE ix
tales and a group of rollicking devil tales. It is
intended as a companion volume to my earlier collec-
tion, Czechoslovak Fairy Tales. Together these two
books present in English a selection of tales that are
fairly representative of the folk genius of a small but
highly gifted branch of the great Slav people.
P.F.
May, 1920.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE TWELVE MONTHS: The Story of Marushka and the Wicked Holena 1
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED: The Story of Yirik and the Snake 23
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY: The Story of the Princess Who Learned
to say "Please" 45
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS: The Story of a Hero Whose Mother Loved
a Dragon 67
FIVE NURSERY TALES:
I KUHATKO THE TERRIBLE : The Story of an Ungrateful Chick . 91
II SMOLICHECK: The Story of a Little Boy Who Opened the
Door 99
III BUDULINEK: The Story of Another Little Boy Who Opened
the Door 109
IV THE DEAR LITTLE HEN: The Story of a Rooster that Cheated 123
V THE DISOBEDIENT ROOSTER: The Story of Another Little Hen 133
si
xii CONTENTS
FACE
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE: The Story of Lidushka and the Imprisoned
DOVES 139
BATCHA AND THE DBAOOK: The Story of a Shepherd Who Slept all
Winter 149
CLEVER MANKA: The Story of a Girl Who Knew What to Say . . 165
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL: The Story of a Man Who Found that
Death was Necessary 177
A GULLIBLE WORLD: The Story of a Man Who Didn't Beat His Wife 187
THE CANDLES OF LIFE: The Story of a Child for Whom Death Stood
Godmother 197
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS: The Story of a Man Whom the Devil Befriended . 207
GENTLE DORA: The Story of a Devil Who Married a Scold . . .225
THE DEVIL'S MATCH: The Story of a Farmer Who Remembered What
His Grandmother Told Him 239
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW: The Story of a Youth Who
Couldn't Find Work 251
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON: The Story of the Man Who Sits Near the
Golden Gate 271
THE TWELVE MONTHS
THE STORY OF MARUSHKA AND THE WICKED HOLENA
THE TWELVE MONTHS
THERE was once a woman who had two girls.
One was her own daughter, the other a step-
child. Helena, her own daughter, she loved dearly,
but she couldn't bear even the sight of Marushka, the
stepchild. This was because Marushka was so much
prettier than Helena. Marushka, the dear child,
didn't know how pretty she was and so she never
understood why, whenever she stood beside Holena,
the stepmother frowned so crossly.
Mother and daughter made Marushka do all the
housework alone. She had to cook and wash and sew
and spin and take care of the garden and look after
the cow. Holena, on the contrary, spent all her time
decking herself out and sitting around like a grand
lady.
Marushka never complained. She did all she was
told to do and bore patiently their everlasting fault-
finding. In spite of all the hard work she did she grew
prettier from day to day, and in spite of her lazy life
Holena grew uglier.
1 This will never do," the stepmother thought to
3
4 THE TWELVE MONTHS
herself. ' Soon the boys will come courting and once
they see how pretty Marushka is, they'll pay no at-
tention at all to my Holena. We had just better
do all we can to get rid of that Marushka as soon
as possible."
So they both nagged Marushka all day long. They
made her work harder, they beat her, they didn't give
her enough to eat, they did everything they could
think of to make her ugly and nasty. But all to no
avail. Marushka was so good and sweet that, in
spite of all their harsh treatment, she kept on grow-
ing prettier.
One day in the middle of January Holena took the
notion that nothing would do but she must have a
bunch of fragrant violets to put in her bodice.
' Marushka ! ' ' she ordered sharply. " I want some
violets. Go out to the forest and get me some."
' Good heavens, my dear sister! ' cried poor
Marushka. " What can you be thinking of? Who-
ever heard of violets growing under the snow in
January? '
' What, you lazy little slattern ! ' Holena shouted.
You dare to argue with me ! You go this minute
and if you come back without violets I'll kill you! "
The stepmother sided with Holena and, taking
Marushka and Holena
THE TWELVE MONTHS 7
Marushka roughly by the shoulder, she pushed her
out of the house and slammed the door.
The poor child climbed slowly up the mountain side
weeping bitterly. All around the snow lay deep with
no track of man or beast in any direction. Marushka
wandered on and on, weak with hunger and shaking
with cold.
" Dear God in heaven," she prayed, ' take me to
yourself away from all this suffering."
Suddenly ahead of her she saw a glowing light.
She struggled towards it and found at last that it
came from a great fire that was burning on the top
of the mountain. Around the fire there were twelve
stones, one of them much bigger and higher than the
rest. Twelve men were seated on the stones. Three
of them were very old and white; three were not so
old; three were middle-aged; and three were beautiful
youths. They did not talk. They sat silent gazing
at the fire. They were the Twelve Months.
For a moment Marushka was frightened and hesi-
tated. Then she stepped forward and said, politely:
' Kind sirs, may I warm myself at your fire? I
am shaking with cold."
Great January nodded his head and Marushka
reached her stiff fingers towards the flameSr
8 THE TWELVE MONTHS
" This is no place for you, my child," Great Jan-
uary said. ' Why are you here? '
" I'm hunting for violets," Marushka answered.
"Violets? This is no time to look for violets with
snow on the ground ! '
" I know that, sir, but my sister, Helena, says I
must bring her violets from the forest or she'll kill
me and my mother says so, too. Please, sir, won't you
tell me where I can find some ? '
Great January slowly stood up and walked over
to the youngest Month. He handed him a long staff
and said:
" Here, March, you take the high seat."
So March took the high seat and began waving the
staff over the fire. The fire blazed up and instantly
the snow all about began to melt. The trees burst
into bud; the grass revived; the little pink buds of the
daisies appeared; and, lo, it was spring!
While Marushka looked, violets began to peep out
from among the leaves and soon it was as if a great
blue quilt had been spread on the ground.
" Now, Marushka," March cried, ' there are your
violets ! Pick them quickly ! '
Marushka was overjoyed. She stooped down and
THE TWELVE MONTHS 9
gathered a great bunch. Then she thanked the Months
politely, bade them good-day, and hurried away.
Just imagine Helena and the stepmother's surprise
when they saw Marushka coming home through the
snow with her hands full of violets. They opened the
door and instantly the fragrance of the flowers filled
the cottage.
" Where did you get them ? ' Helena demanded
rudely.
" High up in the mountain," Marushka said. ; The
ground up there is covered with them."
Holena snatched the violets and fastened them in
her waist. She kept smelling them herself all after-
noon and she let her mother smell them, but she never
once said to Marushka:
" Dear sister, won't you take a smell? '
The next day as she was sitting idle in the chimney
corner she took the notion that she must have some
strawberries to eat. So she called Marushka and
said:
" Here you, Marushka, go out to the forest and get
me some strawberries."
' Good heavens, my dear sister," Marushka said,
" where can I find strawberries this time of year?
10 THE TWELVE MONTHS
Whoever heard of strawberries growing under the
snow? '
"What, you lazy little slattern!' Holena shouted.
You dare to argue with me ! You go this minute
and if you come back without strawberries, I'll kill
you!"
Again the stepmother sided with Holena and,
taking Marushka roughly by the shoulder, she pushed
her out of the house and slammed the door.
Again the poor child climbed slowly up the moun-
tain side weeping bitterly. All around the snow lay
deep with no track of man or beast in any direction.
Marushka wandered on and on, weak with hunger
and shaking with cold. At last she saw ahead of her
the glow of the same fire that she had seen the day
before. With happy heart she hastened to it. The
Twelve Months were seated as before with Great Jan-
uary on the high seat.
Marushka bowed politely and said:
" Kind sirs, may I warm myself at your fire? I
am shaking with cold."
Great January nodded and Marushka reached her
stiff fingers towards the flames.
' But Marushka," Great January said, " why are
you here again? What are you hunting now? "
THE TWELVE MONTHS 11
" I'm hunting for strawberries," Marushka an-
swered.
' Strawberries? But, Marushka, my child, it is
winter and strawberries do not grow in the snow."
Marushka shook her head sadly.
' I know that, sir, but my sister, Helena, says I
must bring her strawberries from the forest or she will
kill me and my mother says so, too. Please, sir, won't
you tell me where I can find some ? '
Great January slowly stood up and walked over
to the Month who sat opposite him. He handed him
the long staff and said:
' Here, June, you take the high seat."
So June took the high seat and began waving the
staff over the fire. The flames blazed high and with
the heat the snow all about melted instantly. The
earth grew green; the trees decked themselves in
leaves; the birds began to sing; flowers bloomed and,
lo, it was summer! Presently little starry white
blossoms covered the ground under the beech trees.
Soon these turned to fruit, first green, then pink, then
red, and, with a gasp of delight, Marushka saw that
they were ripe strawberries.
' Now, Marushka," June cried, " there are your
strawberries ! Pick them quickly ! '
12 THE TWELVE MONTHS
Marushka picked an apronful of berries. Then she
thanked the Months politely, bade them good-bye, and
hurried home.
Just imagine again Holena and the stepmother's
surprise as they saw Marushka coming through the
snow with an apronful of strawberries!
They opened the door and instantly the fragrance of
the berries filled the house.
'Where did you get them?' Holena demanded
rudely.
" High up in the mountain," Marushka answered,
" under the beech trees."
Holena took the strawberries and gobbled and
gobbled and gobbled. Then the stepmother ate all
she wanted. But it never occurred to either of them
to say:
" Here, Marushka, you take one."
The next day when Holena was sitting idle, as
usual, in the chimney corner, the notion took her that
she must have some red apples. So she called
Marushka and said:
" Here you, Marushka, go out to the forest and get
me some red apples."
" But, my dear sister," Marushka gasped, " where
can I find red apples in winter? '
Marushka reached up and picked one apple
THE TWELVE MONTHS 15
" What, you lazy little slattern, you dare to argue
with me! You go this minute and if you come back
without red apples I'll kill you! '
For the third time the stepmother sided with
Holena and, taking Marushka roughly by the shoul-
der, pushed her out of the house and slammed the
door.
So again the poor child went out to the forest. All
around the snow lay deep with no track of man or
beast in any direction. This time Marushka hurried
straight to the mountain top. She found the Months
still seated about their fire with Great January still
on the high stone.
Marushka bowed politely and said:
' Kind sirs, may I warm myself at your fire? I
am shaking with cold."
Great January nodded and Marushka reached her
stiff fingers towards the flames.
'Why are you here again, Marushka? " Great Jan-
uary asked. ' What are you looking for now? '
' Red apples," Marushka answered. ' My sister,
Holena, says I must bring her some red apples from
the forest or she will kill me, and my mother says so,
too. Please, sir, won't you tell me wrhere I can find
some? "
16 THE TWELVE MONTHS
Great January slowly stood up and walked over to
one of the older Months. He handed him the long
staff and said:
" Here, September, you take the high seat."
So September took the high seat and began waving
the staff over the fire. The fire burned and glowed.
Instantly the snow disappeared. The fields about
looked brown and yellow and dry. From the trees
the leaves dropped one by one and a cool breeze scat-
tered them over the stubble. There were not many
flowers, only wild asters on the hillside, and meadow
saffron in the valleys, and under the beeches ferns
and ivy. Presently Marushka spied an apple-tree
weighted dowai with ripe fruit.
" There, Marushka," September called, ' there are
your apples. Gather them quickly."
Marushka reached up and picked one apple. Then
she picked another.
"That's enough, Marushka!' September shouted.
" Don't pick any more! '
Marushka obeved at once. Then she thanked the
ml
Months politely, bade them good-bye, and hurried
home.
Helena and her stepmother were more surprised
THE TWELVE MONTHS 17
than ever to see Marushka coming through the snow
with red apples in her hands. They let her in and
grabbed the apples from her.
"Where did you get them?' Hoiena demanded.
" High up on the mountain," Marushka answered.
" There are plenty of them growing there."
" Plenty of them! And you only brought us two! '
Hoiena eried angrily. " Or did you pick more and
eat them yourself on the way home ? '
" No, no, my dear sister," Marushka said. ' I
haven't eaten any, truly I haven't. They wouldn't
let me pick any more than two. They shouted to
me not to pick any more."
"I wish the lightning had struck you dead!'
Hoiena sneered. " I've a good mind to beat you! '
After a time the greedy Hoiena left off her scold-
ing to eat one of the apples. It had so delicious a
flavor that she declared she had never in all her life
tasted anything so good. Her mother said the same.
When they had finished both apples they began to
wish for more.
* Mother," Hoiena said, " go get me my fur cloak.
I'm going up the mountain myself. No use sending
that lazy little slattern again, for she would only eat
18 THE TWELVE MONTHS
up all the apples on the way home. I'll find that tree
and when I pick the apples I'd like to see anybody
stop me ! '
The mother begged Helena not to go out in such
weather, but Holena was headstrong and would go.
She threw her fur cloak over her shoulders and put a
shawl on her head and off she went up the mountain
side.
All around the snow lay deep with no track of man
or beast in any direction. Holena wandered on and on
determined to find those wonderful apples. At last
she saw a light in the distance and when she reached it
she found it was the great fire about which the Twelve
Months were seated.
At first she was frightened but, soon growing bold,
she elbowed her way through the circle of men and
without so much as saying: " By your leave," she put
out her hands to the fire. She hadn't even the courtesy
to say: "Good-day."
Great January frowned.
'Who are you? " he asked in a deep voice. "And
what do you want? '
Holena looked at him rudely.
You old fool, what business is it of yours who I
am or what I want! "
THE TWELVE MONTHS 19
She tossed her head airily and walked off into the
forest.
The frown deepened on Great January's brow.
Slowly he stood up and waved the staff over his head.
The fire died down. Then the sky grew dark; an icy
wind blew over the mountain; and the snow began to
fall so thickly that it looked as if some one in the
sky were emptying a huge feather-bed.
Holena could not see a step before her. She
struggled on and on. Now she ran into a tree, now
she fell into a snowdrift. In spite of her warm cloak
her limbs began to weaken and grow numb. The
snow kept on falling, the icy wind kept on blowing.
Did Holena at last begin to feel sorry that she had
been so wicked and cruel to Marushka? No, she did
not. Instead, the colder she grew, the more bitterly
she reviled Marushka in her heart, the more bitterly
she reviled even the good God Himself.
Meanwhile at home her mother waited for her and
waited. She stood at the window as long as she
could, then she opened the door and tried to peer
through the storm. She waited and waited, but no
Holena came.
"Oh dear, oh dear, what can be keeping her?" she
thought to herself. " Does she like those apples so
20 THE TWELVE MONTHS
much that she can't leave them, or what is it? I think
I'll have to go out myself and find her."
So the stepmother put her fur cloak about her
shoulders, threw a shawl over her head, and started
out.
She called: "Helena! Holena! ' but no one an-
swered.
She struggled on and on up the mountain side. All
around the snow lay deep with no track of man or
beast in any direction.
"Holena! Holena!"
Still no answer.
The snow fell fast. The icy wind moaned on.
At home Marushka prepared the dinner and looked
after the cow. Still neither Holena nor the step-
mother returned.
" What can they be doing all this time? " Marushka
thought.
She ate her dinner alone and then sat down to
work at the distaff.
The spindle filled and daylight faded and still no
sign of Holena and her mother.
" Dear God in heaven, what can be keeping them! '
Marushka cried anxiously. She peered out the window
to see if they were coming.
THE TWELVE MONTHS 'Jl
The storm had spent itself. The wind had died
down. The fields gleamed white in the snow and up
in the sky the frosty stars were twinkling brightly.
But not a living creature was in sight. Marushka
knelt down and prayed for her sister and mother.
The next morning she prepared breakfast for them.
They'll be very cold and hungry," she said to
herself.
She waited for them but they didn't come. She
cooked dinner for them but still they didn't come. In
fact they never came, for they both froze to death on
the mountain.
So our good little Marushka inherited the cottage
and the garden and the cow. After a time she married
a farmer. He made her a good husband and they
lived together very happily.
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
THE STORY OF YIRIK AND THE SNAKE
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
THERE was once an old king who was so wise
that he was able to understand the speech of
all the animals in the world. This is how it happened.
An old woman came to him one day bringing him a
snake in a basket.
" If you have this snake cooked," she told him, " and
eat it as you would a fish, then you will be able to
understand the birds of the air, the beasts of the
earth, and the fishes of the sea."
The king was delighted. He made the old wise
woman a handsome present and at once ordered his
cook, a youth named Yirik, to prepare the ' fish '
for dinner.
'But understand, Yirik," he said severely, "you're
to cook this * fish,' not eat it! You're not to taste
one morsel of it! If you do, you forfeit your head! '
Yirik thought this a strange order.
' What kind of a cook am I," he said to himself,
' that I'm not to sample my own cooking? '
When he opened the basket and saw the " fish," ne
was further mystified.
25
26 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
" Um," he murmured, " it looks like a snake to
me."
He put it on the fire and, when it was broiled to a
turn, he ate a morsel. It had a fine flavor. He was
about to take a second bite when suddenly he heard
a little voice that buzzed in his ear these words:
" Give us some, too! Give us some, too! '
He looked around to see who was speaking but
there was no one in the kitchen. Only some flies were
buzzing about.
Just then outside a hissing voice called out:
" Where shall we go? Where shall we go? '
A higher voice answered:
" To the miller's barley field ! To the miller's barley
field!"
Yirik looked out the window and saw a gander with
a flock of geese.
" Oho! " he said to himself, shaking his head. * Now
I understand ! Now I know what kind of * fish ' this
is! Now I know why the poor cook was not to take
a bite!"
He slipped another morsel into his mouth, gar-
nished the " fish ' carefully on a platter, and carried
it to the king.
After dinner the king ordered his horse and told
Yirik's horse began to prance and neigh
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 29
Yirik to come with him for a ride. The king rode on
ahead and Yirik followed.
As they cantered across a green meadow, Yirik's
horse began to prance and neigh.
" Ho! Ho! " he said. " I feel so light that I could
jump over a mountain! '
' So could I," the king's horse said, " but I have to
remember the old bag of bones that is perched on my
back. If I were to jump he'd tumble off and break
his neck."
'And a good thing, too!' said Yirik's horse.
; Why not ? Then instead of such an old bag of
bones you'd get a young man to ride you like
Yirik."
Yirik almost burst out laughing as he listened to
the horses' talk, but he suppressed his merriment lest
the king should know that he had eaten some of the
magic snake.
Now of course the king, too, understood what the
horses were saying. He glanced apprehensively at
Yirik and it seemed to him that Yirik was grinning.
' What are you laughing at, Yirik? '
"Me?" Yirik said. "I'm not laughing. I was
just thinking of something funny."
* Um," said the king.
30 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
His suspicions against Yirik were aroused. More-
over he was afraid to trust himself to his horse any
longer. So he turned back to the palace at once.
There he ordered Yirik to pour him out a goblet
of wine.
' And I warn you," he said, t( that you forfeit your
head if you pour a drop too much or too little."
Yirik carefully tilted a great tankard and began
filling a goblet. As he poured a bird suddenly flew
into the window pursued by another bird. The first
bird had in its beak three golden hairs.
"Give them to me! Give them to me! They're
mine! " screamed the second bird.
" I won't! I won't! They're mine! " the first bird
answered. ' I picked them up ! '
"Yes, but I saw them first!' the other cried. "I
saw them fall as the maiden sat and combed her golden
tresses. Give me two of them and I'll let you keep
the third."
" No ! No ! No ! I won't let you have one of
them!"
The second bird darted angrily at the first and
after a struggle succeeded in capturing one of the
golden hairs. One hair dropped to the marble floor,
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 31
making as it struck a musical tinkle, and the first bird
escaped still holding in its bill a single hair.
In his excitement over the struggle, Yirik over-
flowed the goblet.
"Ha! Ha!' said the king. 'See what you've
done! You forfeit your head! However, I'll suspend
sentence on condition that you find this golden-haired
maiden and bring her to me for a wife."
Poor Yirik didn't know who the maiden was nor
where she lived. But what could he say? If he
wanted to keep his head, he must undertake the quest.
So he saddled his horse and started off at random.
His road led him through a forest. Here he came
upon a bush under which some shepherds had kindled
a fire. Sparks were falling on an anthill nearby and
the ants in great excitement were running hither and
thither writh their eggs.
"Yirik!" they cried. "Help! Help, or we shall
all be burned to death, we and our young ones in the
eggs!"
Yirik instantly dismounted, cut down the burning
bush, and put out the fire.
" Thank you, Yirik, thank you! ' the ants said.
" Your kindness to us this day will not go unrewarded
32 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
If ever you are in trouble, think of us and we will
help you."
As Yirik rode on through the forest, he came upon
two fledgling ravens lying by the path.
"Help us, Yirik, help us!' they cawed. "Our
father and mother have thrown us out of the nest in
yonder tall fir tree to fend for ourselves. We are
young and helpless and not yet able to fly. Give
us some meat to eat or we shall perish with
hunger."
The sight of the helpless fledglings touched Yirik
to pity. He dismounted instantly, drew his sword, and
killed his horse. Then he fed the starving birds the
meat they needed.
"Thank you, Yirik, thank you!' the little ravens
croaked. " You have saved our lives this day. Your
kindness will not go unrewarded. If ever you are in
trouble, think of us and we will help you."
Yirik left the young ravens and pushed on afoot.
The path through the forest was long and wearisome.
It led out finally on the seashore.
On the beach two fishermen were quarreling over a
big fish with golden scales that lay gasping on the
sand.
" It's mine, I tell you ! " one of the men was shout-
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 33
ing. ' It was caught in my net, so of course it's
mine ! '
To this the other one shouted back:
' But your net would never have caught a fish if
you hadn't been out in my boat and if I hadn't helped
you!"
" Give me this one," the first man said, " and I'll
let you have the next one."
'No! You take the next one!' the other said.
''This one's mine!"
So they kept on arguing to no purpose until Yirik
went up to them and said:
" Let me decide this for you. Suppose you sell me
the fish and then divide the money."
He offered them all the money the king had given
him for his journey. The fishermen, delighted at the
offer, at once agreed. Yirik handed them over the
money and then, taking the gasping fish in his hand,
he threw it back into the sea.
When the fish had caught its breath, it rose on a
wave and called out to Yirik :
" Thank you, Yirik, thank you. You have saved
my life this day. Your kindness will not go unre-
warded. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and
I will help you."
34 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
With that the golden fish flicked its tail and dis-
appeared in the water.
"Where are you going, Yirik?' the fishermen
asked.
"I'm going in quest of a golden-haired maiden
whom my master, the king, wished to make his wife."
" He must mean the Princess Zlatovlaska," the
fishermen said to each other.
" The Princess Zlatovlaska? ' Yirik repeated.
"Who is she?"
" She's the golden-haired daughter of the King of
the Crystal Palace. Do you see the faint outlines of
an island over yonder? That's where she lives. The
king has twelve daughters but Zlatovlaska alone has
golden hair. Each morning at dawn a wonderful glow
spreads over land and sea. That's Zlatovlaska comb-
ing her golden hair."
The fishermen conferred apart for a moment and
then said:
" Yirik, you settled our dispute for us and now in
return we'll row you over to the island."
So they rowed Yirik over to the Island of the
Crystal Palace and left him there with the warning
that the king would probably try to palm off on him
one of the dark-haired princesses.
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 35
Yirik at once presented himself at the palace, got
an audience with the king, and declared his mission.
" H'm," the king said. ' So your master desires the
hand of my daughter, the Princess Zlatovlaska, eh?
H'm, h'm. Well, I see no objection to your master
as a son-in-law, but of course before I entrust the
princess into your hands you must prove yourself
worthy. I tell you what I'll do: I'll give you three
tasks to perform. Be ready for the first one to-
morrow.'
Early the next day the king said to Yirik:
" My daughter, Zlatovlaska, had a precious neck-
lace of pearls. She was walking in the meadow over
yonder when the string broke and the pearls rolled
away in the tall grasses. Now your first task is to
gather up every last one of those pearls and hand
them to me before sundown."
Yirik went to the meadow and when he saw how
broad it was and how thickly covered with tall grasses
his heart sank for he realized that he could never
search over the whole of it in one day. However, he
got down on his hands and knees and began to
hunt.
Midday came and he had not yet found a single
pearl.
36 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
" Oh dear," he thought to himself in despair, " if
only my ants were here, they could help me! '
He had no sooner spoken than a million little voices
answered :
" We are here and we're here to help you! '
And sure enough there they were, the very ants that
he supposed were far away !
" What do you want us to do? " they asked.
* Find me all the pearls that are scattered in this
meadow. I can't find one of them."
Instantly the ants scurried hither and thither and
soon they began bringing him the pearls one by one.
Yirik strung them together until the necklace seemed
complete.
" Are there any more? " he asked.
He was about to tie the string together when a
lame ant, whose foot had been burned in the fire,
hobbled up, crying:
"Wait, Yirik, don't tie the string yet! Here's the
last pearl ! '
Yirik thanked the ants for their help and at sun-
down carried the string of pearls to the king. The
king counted the pearls and, to his surprise, found
that not one was missing.
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 37
" You've done this well," he said. " Tomorrow I'll
give you your second task."
The next day when Yirik presented himself, the
king said:
" While my daughter, Zlatovlaska, was bathing in the
sea, a golden ring slipped from her finger and dis-
appeared. Your task is to find me this ring before
sundown."
Yirik went down to the seashore and as he walked
along the beach his heart grew heavy as he realized the
difficulty of the task before him. The sea was clear
but so deep that he couldn't even see the bottom.
How then could he find the ring?
" Oh dear," he said aloud, " if only the golden fish
were here! It could help me."
" I am here," a voice said, " and I'm here to help
you."
And there was the golden fish on the crest of a
wave, gleaming like a flash of fire!
" What do you want me to do? " it said.
" Find me a golden ring that lies somewhere on the
bottom of the sea."
" Ah, a golden ring? A moment ago I met a pike,"
the fish said, " that had just such a golden ring. Wait
for me here and I'll go find the pike."
38 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
In a few moments the golden fish returned with the
pike and sure enough it was Zlatovlaska's ring that the
pike was carrying.
That evening at sundown the king acknowledged
that Yirik had accomplished his second task.
The next day the king said:
" I could never allow my daughter, Zlatovlaska, the
Golden-Haired, to go to the kingdom of your master
unless she carried with her two flasks, one filled with
the Water of Life, the other with the Water of Death.
So today for a third task I set you this: to bring the
princess a flask of the Water of Life and a flask of
the Water of Death."
Yirik had no idea which way to turn. He had
heard of the Waters of Life and Death, but all he
knew about them was that their springs were far away
beyond the Red Sea. He left the Crystal Palace and
walked off aimlessly until his feet had carried him of
themselves into a dark forest.
' If only those young ravens were here," he said
aloud, " they could help me! '
Instantly he heard a loud, 'Caw! Caw!' and two
ravens flew down to him, saying:
' We are here ! We are here to help you ! What
do you want us to do ? "
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 39
" I have to bring the king a flask of the Water of
Life and a flask of the Water of Death and I don't
know where the springs are. Do you know? '
" Yes, we know," the ravens said. " Wait here and
we'll soon fetch you water from both springs."
They flew off and in a short time returned, each
bearing a gourd of the precious water.
Yirik thanked the ravens and carefully filled his two
flasks.
As he was leaving the forest, he came upon a great
spider web. An ugly spider sat in the middle of it
sucking a fly. Yirik took a drop of the Water of
Death and flicked it on the spider. The spider doubled
up dead and fell to the ground like a ripe cherry.
Then Yirik sprinkled a drop of Living Water on
the fly. The fly instantly revived, pulled itself out of
the web, and flew about happy and free once again.
" Thank you, Yirik," it buzzed, " thank you for
bringing me back to life. You won't be sorry. Just
wait and you'll soon see that I'll reward you! '
When Yirik returned to the palace and presented
the two flasks, the king said:
" But one thing yet remains. You may take Zlatov-
laska, the Golden-Haired, but you must yourself pick
her out from among the twelve sisters."
40 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
The king led Yirik into a great hall. The twelve
princesses were seated about a table, beautiful maidens
all and each looking much like the others. Yirik could
not tell which was Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, for
each princess wore a long heavy white veil so draped
over her head and shoulders that it completely covered
her hair.
" Here are my twelve daughters," the king said.
" One of them is Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired.
Pick her out and you may lead her at once to your
master. If you fail to pick her out, then you must
depart without her."
In dismay Yirik looked from sister to sister. There
was nothing to show him which was Zlatovlaska, the
Golden-Haired. How was he to find out?
Suddenly he heard a buzzing in his ear and a little
voice whispered:
"Courage, Yirik, courage! I'll help you!'
He turned his head quickly and there was the fly
he had rescued from the spider.
" Walk slowly by each princess," the fly said, " and
I'll tell you when you come to Zlatovlaska, the Golden-
Haired."
Yirik did as the fly ordered. He stopped a moment
before the first princess until the fly buzzed:
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 41
" Not that one! Not that one! "
He went on to the next princess and again the fly
buzzed :
" Not that one! Not that one! "
So he went on from princess to princess until at
last the fly buzzed out:
" Yes, that one! That one!"
So Yirik remained standing where he was and said
to the king:
" This, I think, is Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired."
You have guessed right," the king said.
At that Zlatovlaska removed the white veil from
her head and her lovely hair tumbled down to her feet
like a golden cascade. It shimmered and glowed like
the sun in the early morning when he peeps over the
mountain top. Yirik stared until the brightness
dimmed his sight.
The king immediately prepared Zlatovlaska, the
Golden-Haired, for her journey. He gave her the
two precious flasks of water; he arranged a fitting
escort; and then with his blessing he sent her forth
under Yirik's care.
Yirik conducted her safely to his master.
When the old king saw the lovely princess that
Yirik had found for him, his eyes blinked with satis-
42 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
faction, he capered about like a spring lamb, and he
ordered that immediate preparations be made for the
wedding. He was most grateful to Yirik and thanked
him again and again.
" My dear boy," he said, " I had expected to have
you hanged for your disobedience and let the ravens
pick your bones. But now, to show you how grate-
ful I am for the beautiful bride you have found me,
I'm not going to have you hanged at all. Instead, I
shall have you beheaded and then given a decent
burial."
The execution took place at once in order to be out
of the way before the wedding.
' It's a great pity he had to die," the king said as
the executioner cut off Yirik's head. " He has cer-
tainly been a faithful servant."
Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, asked if she might
have his severed head and body. The king who was
too madly in love to refuse her anything said: " Yes."
So Zlatovlaska took the body and the head and put
them together. Then she sprinkled them with the
Water of Death. Instantly the wound closed and
soon it healed so completely that there wasn't even
a scar left.
Yirik lay there lifeless but looking merely as if he
ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED 43
were asleep. Zlatovlaska sprinkled him with the
Water of Life and immediately his dead limbs stirred.
Then he opened his eyes and sat up. Life poured
through his veins and he sprang to his feet younger,
fresher, handsomer than before.
The old king was filled with envy.
" I, too," he cried, ' wish to be made young and
handsome ! '
He commanded the executioner to cut off his head
and he told Zlatovlaska to sprinkle him afterwards
with the Water of Life.
The executioner did as he was told. Then Zlatov-
laska sprinkled the old king's head and body with the
Water of Life. Nothing happened. Zlatovlaska kept
on sprinkling the Water of Life until there was no
more left.
" Do you know," the princess said to Yirik, " I be-
lieve I should have used the Water of Death first."
So now she sprinkled the body and head with the
Water of Death and, sure enough, they grew together
at once. But of course there was no life in them.
And of course there was no possible way of putting
life into them because the Water of Life was all gone.
So the old king remained dead.
' This will never do," the people said. " We must
44 ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED
have a king. And with the wedding feast and every-
thing prepared we simply must have a wedding, too.
If Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, cannot marry the
old king, she'll have to marry some one else. Now
who shall it be?"
Some one suggested Yirik because he was young
and handsome and because, like the old king, he could
understand the birds and the beasts.
" Yirik ! ' the people cried. ' Let Yirik be our
king! "
And Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, who had long
since fallen in love with handsome Yirik, consented to
have the wedding at once in order that the feast
already prepared might not be wasted.
So Yirik and Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, were
married and they ruled so well and they lived so
happily that to this day when people say of some
one: "He's as happy as a king," they are thinking
of King Yirik, and when they say of some one:
" She's as beautiful as a queen," they are thinking of
Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired.
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
THE STORY OF A PRINCESS WHO LEARNED
TO SAY " PLEASE '
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
THERE was once a king who had a beautiful
daughter. When it was time for her to get
a husband, the king set a day and invited all the
neighboring princes to come and see her.
One of these princes decided that he would like to
have a look at the princess before the others. So he
dressed himself in a shepherd's costume: a broad-
brimmed hat, a blue smock, a green vest, tight
breeches to the knees, thick woolen stockings, and
sandals. Thus disguised he set out for the kingdom
where the princess lived. All he took with him were
four loaves of bread to eat on the way.
He hadn't gone far before he met a beggar who
begged him, in God's name, for a piece of bread.
The prince at once gave him one of the four loaves.
A little farther on a second beggar held out his hand
and begged for a piece of bread. To him the prince
gave the second loaf. To a third beggar he gave
the third loaf, and to a fourth beggar the last loaf.
The fourth beggar said to him:
" Prince in shepherd's guise, your charity will not
47
48 THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
go unrewarded. Here are four gifts for you, one for
each of the loaves of bread that you have given away
this day. Take this whip which has the power of
killing any one it strikes however gentle the blow.
Take this beggar's wallet. It has in it some bread and
cheese, but not common bread and cheese for, no
matter how much of it you eat, there will always be
some left. Take this shepherd's ax. If ever you have
to leave your sheep alone, plant it in the earth and
the sheep, instead of straying, will graze around it.
Last, here is a shepherd's pipe. When you blow upon
it your sheep will dance and play. Farewell and good
luck go with you."
The prince thanked the beggar for his gifts and
then trudged on to the kingdom where the beautiful
princess lived. He presented himself at the palace
as a shepherd in quest of work and he told them his
name was Yan. The king liked his appearance and
so the next day he was put in charge of a flock of
sheep which he drove up the mountain side to pasture.
He planted his shepherd's ax in the midst of a
meadow and, leaving his sheep to graze about it, he
went off into the forest hunting adventures. There
he came upon a castle where a giant was busy cook-
ing his dinner in a big saucepan.
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY 49
" Good-day to you," Yan said politely.
The giant, who was a rude, unmannerly fellow,
bellowred out:
" It won't take me long to finish you, you young
whippersnapper! '
lie raised a great iron club to strike Yan but Yan,
quick as thought, flicked the giant with his whip and
the huge fellow toppled over dead.
The next day he returned to the castle and found
another giant in possession.
" Ho, ho! " he roared on sight of Yan. ' What, you
young whippersnapper, back again! You killed my
brother yesterday and now I'll kill you!'
He raised his great iron club to strike Yan, but Yan
skipped nimbly aside. Then he flicked the giant with
his whip and the huge fellow toppled over dead.
When Yan returned to the castle the third day
there were no more giants about. So he wandered
from room to room to see what treasures were there.
In one room he found a big chest. He struck it
smartly and immediately two burly men jumped out
and, bowing low before him, said:
" What does the master of the castle desire? '
" Show me everything there is to be seen," Yan
ordered.
50 THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
So the two servants of the chest showed him every-
thing— jewels and treasures and gold. Then they led
him out into the gardens where the most wonderful
flowers in the world were blooming. Yan plucked
some of these and made them into a nosegay.
That afternoon, as he drove home his sheep, he
played on his magic pipe and the sheep, pairing off
two by two, began to dance and frisk about him. All
the people in the village ran out to see the strange
sight and laughed and clapped their hands for joy.
The princess ran to the palace window and when she
saw the sheep dancing two by two she, too, laughed
and clapped her hands. Then the wind whiffed her a
smell of the wonderful nosegay that Yan was carry-
ing and she said to her serving maid:
' Run down to the shepherd and tell him the prin-
cess desires his nosegay."
The serving maid delivered the message to Yan,
but he shook his head and said:
' Tell your mistress that whoever wants this nose-
gay must come herself and say : ' Yanitchko, give me
that nosegay.'
When the princess heard this, she laughed and
said :
' What an odd shepherd! I see I must go myself."
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY 51
So the princess herself came out to Yan and
said:
" Yanitchko, give me that nosegay."
But Yan smiled and shook his head.
"Whoever wants this nosegay must say: Yan-
itchko, please give me that nosegay.'
The Princess was a merry girl, so she laughed and
said:
" Yanitchko, please give me that nosegay."
Yan gave it to her at once and she thanked him
sweetly.
The next day Yan went again to the castle garden
and plucked another nosegay. Then in the afternoon
he drove his sheep through the village as before, play-
ing his pipe. The princess was standing at the palace
window waiting to see him. When the wind brought
her a whiff of the fresh nosegay that was even more
fragrant than the first one, she ran out to Yan and
said:
" Yanitchko, please give me that nosegay."
But Yan smiled and shook his head.
"Whoever wants this nosegay must say: 'My dear
Yanitchko, I beg you most politely please to give
me that nosegay.'
" My dear Yanitchko," the princess repeated de-
52 THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
murely, " I beg you most politely please to give me
that nosegay."
So Yan gave her the second nosegay. The princess
put it in her window and the fragrance filled the
village until people from far and near came to see it.
After that every day Yan gathered a nosegay for
the princess and every day the princess stood at the
palace window waiting to see the handsome shepherd.
And always when she asked for the nosegay, she said:
" Please."
In this way a month went by and the day arrived
when the neighboring princes were to come to meet the
princess. They were to come in fine array, the people
said, and the princess had ready a kerchief and a ring
for the one who would please her most.
Yan planted the ax in the meadow and, leaving the
sheep to graze about it, went to the castle where he
ordered the servants of the chest to dress him as be-
fitted his rank. They put a white suit upon him and
gave him a white horse with trappings of silver.
So he rode to the palace and took his place with
the other princes but behind them so that the princess
had to crane her neck to see him.
One by one the various princes rode by the princess
but to none of them did the princess give her kerchief
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY 53
and ring. Yan was the last to salute her, and instantly
she handed him her favors.
Then before the king or the other suitors could
speak to him, Yan put spurs to his horse and rode
off.
That evening as usual when he was driving home
his sheep, the princess ran out to him and said:
" Yan, it was you! '
But Yan laughed and put her off.
" How can a poor shepherd be a prince?" he asked.
The princess was not convinced and she said in
another month, when the princes were to come again,
she would find out.
So for another month Yan tended sheep and plucked
nosegays for the merry little princess and the princess
waited for him at the palace window every afternoon
and when she saw him she always spoke to him
politely and said: " Please."
When the day for the second meeting of the princes
came, the servants of the chest arrayed Yan in a suit
of red and gave him a sorrel horse with trappings of
gold. Yan again rode to the palace and took his place
with the other princes but behind them so that the
princess had to crane her neck to see him.
Again the suitors rode by the princess one by one,
54 THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
but at each of them she shook her head impatiently and
kept her kerchief and ring until Yan saluted her.
Instantly the ceremony was over, Yan put spurs to
his horse and rode off and, although the king sent
after him to bring him back, Yan was able to
escape.
That evening when he was driving home his sheep
the princess ran out to him and said:
Yanitchko, it was you! I know it was!'
But again Yan laughed and put her off and asked
her how she could think such a thing of a poor shep-
herd.
Again the princess was not convinced and she said
in another month, when the princes were to come for
the third and last time, she would make sure.
So for another month Yan tended his sheep and
plucked nosegays for the merry little princess and the
princess waited for him at the palace window every
afternoon and, when she saw him, she always said
politely: "Please."
For the third meeting of the princes the servants
of the chest arrayed Yan in a gorgeous suit of black
and gave him a black horse with golden trappings
studded in diamonds. He rode to the palace and took
his place behind the other suitors. Things went as
THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY 55
before and again the princess saved her kerchief and
ring for him.
This time when he tried to ride off the other suitors
surrounded him and, before he escaped, one of them
wounded him on the foot.
He galloped back to the castle in the forest,
dressed once again in his shepherd's clothes, and re-
turned to the meadow where his sheep were grazing.
There he sat down and bound up his wounded foot
in the kerchief which the princess had given him.
Then, when he had eaten some bread and cheese from
his magic wallet, he stretched himself out in the
sun and fell asleep.
Meanwhile the princess, who was sorely vexed that
her mysterious suitor had again escaped, slipped out
of the palace and ran up the mountain path to see
for herself whether the shepherd were really with his
sheep. She found Yan asleep and, when she saw her
kerchief bound about his foot, she knew that he was
the prince.
She woke him up and cried:
" You are he! You know you are! '
Yan looked at her and laughed and he asked:
" How can I be a prince? '
"But I know you are!' the princess said. 'Oh.
56 THE SHEPHERD'S NOSEGAY
Yanitchko, dear Yanitchko, I beg you please to tell
me!'
So then Yan, because he always did anything the
princess asked him when she said: "Please," told her
his true name and his rank.
The princess, overjoyed to hear that her dear shep-
herd was really a prince, carried him off to her father,
the king.
" This is the man I shall marry," she said, " this
and none other."
So Yan and the merry little princess were married
and lived very happily. And the people of the
country when they speak of the princess always say:
That's a princess for you! Why, even if she is a
princess, she always says ' Please ' to her own hus-
band!"
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
THE STORY OF A HERO WHOSE MOTHER
LOVED A DRAGON
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
THERE was once a mother who had an only son.
" He shall be a hero," she said, " and his name
shall be Vitazko, the Victorious."
She suckled him for twice seven years and then, to
try his strength, she led him out to the forest and
bade him pull up a fir-tree by the roots.
When the boy was not strong enough to do this,
she took him home and suckled him for another seven
years. Then when she had suckled him for thrice
seven years, she led him out to the forest again and
ordered him to pull up a beech-tree by its roots.
The youth laid hold on the tree and with one mighty
pull uprooted it.
" Now, my son, you are strong enough," the mother
said. " Now you are worthy of your name Vitazko.
Forget not the mother who has suckled you for thrice
seven years but, now that you are grown, take care of
her."
" I will, my mother," Vitazko promised. " Only tell
me what you want me to do."
•/
" First," the mother said, ' go out into the world
59
60 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
and find me a splendid dwelb'ng where I may live in
peace and plenty."
Taking in his hand the uprooted beech-tree as a club
and armed only with it, Vitazko set forth. He fol-
lowed the wind here and there and the other place
and it led him at last to a fine castle.
This castle was inhabited by dragons. Vitazko
pounded on the castle gates but the dragons refused
to admit him. Thereupon the young hero battered
down the gates, pursued the dragons from room to
room of the castle, and slaughtered them all.
When he had thrown the last of them over the wall,
he took possession of the castle. He found nine
spacious chambers and a tenth one the door of which
was closed.
Vitazko opened the door and in the room he found
a dragon. This dragon was a prisoner. Three iron
hoops were fastened about his body and these were
chained to the wall.
"Oho! " Vitazko cried. " Another dragon ! What
are you doing here ? '
" Me? " the dragon said. * I'm not doing anything
but just sitting here. My brothers imprisoned me.
Unchain me, Vitazko! If you do, I will reward you
richly."
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 61
"I will not!' Vitazko said. 'A fine scamp you
must be if your own brothers had to chain you up!
No ! You stay where you are ! '
With that Vitazko slammed the door in the
dragon's face and left him.
Then he went for his mother and brought her to the
castle.
" Here, my mother," he said, ' is the dwelling I
have won for you."
He took her through the nine spacious chambers
and showed her everything. At the tenth door he
said:
" This door is not to be opened. All the castle
belongs to you except this room only. See to it that
this door is never opened. If it is opened, an evil fate
will overtake you."
Then Vitazko took his beechen club and went out
hunting.
He was hardly gone before his mother sat down
before the tenth door and said to herself over and
over :
" I wonder what can be in that room that Vitazko
doesn't want me to open the door."
At last when she could restrain her curiosity no
longer, she opened the door.
62 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
" Mercy on us! " she said when she saw the dragon.
" Who are you? And what are you doing here? '
"Me?' the dragon said. 'I'm only a poor harm-
less dragon. They call me Sharkan. My brothers
chained me here. They would have freed me long ago
but Vitazko killed them. Unchain me, dear lady, and
I will reward you richly."
He begged her and cajoled her until she was half
minded to do as he asked.
" You are very beautiful," Sharkan said. " If only
I were free I would make you my wife."
'Ah, but what would Vitazko say to that?' the
woman asked.
' Vitazko? " repeated Sharkan. ' Do you fear your
own son? A dutiful son he is, to give you the castle
and then forbid you to enter this room! If you were
to marry me, we should soon get rid of this Vitazko
and then live here together in peace and merriment."
The woman listened to these cajoling words until she
was completely won over.
' But how, dear Sharkan, shall I unchain you? '
He told her to go to the cellar and from a certain
cask to draw him a goblet of wine. Instantly he
drank the wine, bang! the first iron hoop burst asunder.
He drank a second goblet, and the second iron hoop
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 613
fell from him. He drank a third goblet and, lo! he
was free.
Then in dismay at what she had done, the woman
cried :
" Ah me, what will Vitazko say when he comes
home!"
" I have thought out a plan," Sharkan said.
" Listen : when he comes home pretend you're sick
and refuse to eat. When he begs you to eat something,
tell him that nothing can tempt you but a suckling from
the Earth Sow. He will at once go out and hunt the
Earth Sow and when he touches one of her sucklings,
the Sow will tear him to pieces."
Sharkan remained in hiding in the tenth chamber
and presently Vitazko returned from the hunt with
a young buck across his shoulders. He found his
mother on the bed, moaning and groaning as if in great
pain.
" What is it, dear mother? ' he asked. ' Are you
sick?"
" Aye, my son, I'm sick. Leave me and I'll die
alone ! '
Vitazko in alarm rubbed her hands and begged her
to eat of the venison he had brought home.
" Nay, my son," she said, " venison tempts me not.
64 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
Nothing can tempt my waning appetite but a suckling
from the Earth Sow."
" Then, my mother, you shall have a suckling from
the Earth Sow! ' Vitazko cried, and instantly he
rushed out in quest of the Earth Sow and her
litter.
With his beech-tree in his hand he ranged back and
forth through the forest hunting the Earth Sow. He
came at last to a tower in which an old wise woman
lived. Her name was Nedyelka and because she was
good as well as wise people called her St. Nedyelka.
"Where are you going, Vitazko?' she said, when
she saw the young hero.
" I'm hunting for the Earth Sow," he told her.
" My mother is sick and nothing will tempt her but
a suckling from the Earth Sow's litter."
Nedyelka looked at the young man kindly.
" That, my son, is a difficult task you have set
yourself. However, I will help you provided you
do exactly as I say."
Vitazko promised and the old woman gave him a
long pointed spit.
" Take this," she said. " Now go to my stable.
There you will find my horse, Tatosh. Mount him
and he will carry you on the wind to where the Earth
Nedyelka tells Vitazko what to do
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 67
Sow lies half buried in her wallow and surrounded by
her litter. Reach over and prick one of the sucklings
with this spit and then sit very still without moving.
The suckling will squeal and instantly the Sow will
spring up and in a fury race madly around the world
and back in a moment of time. Sit perfectly still and
she won't see either you or Tatosh. Then she'll tell
the litter that if one of them squeals again and dis-
turbs her, she will tear it to pieces. With that she'll
settle back in the wallow and go to sleep. Then do
you pick up the same little suckling on your spit and
carry it off. This time it will be afraid to squeal.
The Sow will not be disturbed and Tatosh, my horse,
will bear you safely away."
Vitazko did exactly as Nedyelka ordered. He
mounted Tatosh and the magic steed carried him
swiftly on the wind to where the Earth Sow lay sleep-
ing in her wallow.
With his spit, Vitazko pricked one of the sucklings
until it squealed in terror. The Earth Sow jumped
up and in fury raced madly around the world and back
in a moment of time. Tatosh stood where he was and
Vitazko sat on his back without moving. The Earth
Sow saw neither of them.
" If one of you squeals again and disturbs me," the
68 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
Earth Sow said to the litter, ' I'll wake up and tear
you to pieces ! '
With that she settled back in the mud and fell
asleep.
Vitazko again reached over and now he picked up
the same little suckling on the end of his spit. This
time it made no sound. Instantly Tatosh, the magic
steed, rose on the wind and flew straight home to
Nedyelka.
" How did things go? ' the old woman asked.
" Just as you said they would," Vitazko told her.
" See, here is the suckling."
" Good, my son. Take it home to your mother."
So Vitazko returned the spit and led Tatosh back
to his stall. Then he threw the suckling over his beech-
tree, thanked old St. Nedyelka, bade her good-day,
and with a happy heart went home.
At the castle the mother was making merry with the
dragon. Suddenly in the distance they saw Vitazko
coming.
"Here he comes!' the mother cried. "Oh dear,
what shall I do? "
" Don't be afraid," Sharkan advised. " We'll send
him off on another quest and this time he'll surely not
come back. Pretend you're sick again and tell him
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 69
you're so weak that even the suckling of the Earth
Sow doesn't tempt your appetite. Tell him nothing
will help you but the Water of Life and the Water
of Death and if he really loves you he must get you
some of both. Then he'll go off hunting the Water
of Life and the Water of Death and that will be the
end of him."
Sharkan hid himself in the tenth chamber and
Vitazko, when he entered the castle, found his mother
alone.
" It's no use, my son," she moaned. ' I can't eat
the suckling. Nothing will help me now but the
Water of Life and the Water of Death. Of course
you don't love me well enough to get me some of
both."
"I do! I do!" poor Vitazko cried. "There's
nothing I won't get for you to make you well! '
He snatched up his beech-tree again and hurried
back to St. Nedyelka.
" What is it now? " the old woman asked.
" Can you tell me, dear St. Nedyelka, where I can
find the Water of Life and the Water of Death? My
poor mother is still sick and she says that nothing else
will cure her."
" The Waters of Life and of Death are difficult to
70 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
get," Nedyelka said. " However, dear boy, I will
help you. Take these two pitchers and again mount
the faithful Tatosh. He will carry you to the two
shores under which flow the springs of the Water of
Life and the Water of Death. The right shore opens
for a moment on the instant of noon and under it the
Water of Life bubbles up. The left shore opens for
a moment at midnight and under it lies the still pool of
the Water of Death. Wait at each shore until the
moment it opens. Then reach in and scoop up a
pitcher of water. Be swift or the shores will close
upon you and kill you."
Vitazko took the two pitchers and mounted Tatosh.
The horse rose on the wind and carried Vitazko far,
far away beyond the Red Sea to the two shores of
which old Nedyelka had told him.
At the moment of noon the right shore opened for an
instant and Vitazko scooped up a pitcher of the Water
of Life. He had scarcely time to draw back before
the opening closed with a crash.
He waited at the left shore until midnight. At the
moment of midnight the left shore opened for an
instant. Vitazko scooped up a pitcher of water from
the still pool of the Water of Death and pulled swiftly
back as the opening closed.
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 71
With the two pitchers safe in his hands, Vitazko
mounted Tatosh and the magic steed rising on the
wind carried him home to St. Nedyelka.
"And how did things go?' the old woman asked.
" Very well," Vitazko said. ' See, here are the
Waters."
St. Nedyelka took the two pitchers and when
Vitazko wasn't looking changed them for two pitchers
of ordinary water which she told him to carry at once
to his mother.
At the castle the mother and Sharkan were again
making merry when from afar they saw Vitazko with
two pitchers in his hands. The mother fell into a
great fright and wept and tore her hair, but the
dragon again reassured her.
" He's come back this time," he said, ' but we'll
send him off again and he'll never return. Refuse
the Waters and tell him you're so sick that nothing
will help you now but a sight of the bird, Pelikan.
Tell him if he loves you he will go after the bird,
Pelikan, and once he goes we need never fear him
again."
Vitazko when he reached the castle hurried into
his mother's chamber and offered her the Waters.
" Here, dear mother, is a pitcher of the Water of
72 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
Life and a pitcher of the Water of Death. Now you
will get well! '
But his mother pushed both pitchers away and,
moaning and groaning as if she were in great pain,
she said:
" Nay, you are too late with your Water of Life
and your Water of Death! I am so far gone that
nothing will cure me now but a sight of the bird,
Pelikan. If you really loved me you would get it
for me."
Vitazko, still trusting his mother, cried out:
" Of course I love you! Of course I'll get you the
bird, Pelikan, if that is what will cure you! '
So once more he snatched up his beech-tree and hur-
ried off to St. Nedyelka.
'What is it now?' the old woman asked him.
' It's my poor mother," Vitazko said. " She's too far
gone for the Water of Life and the Water of Death.
Nothing will help her now but a sight of the bird,
Pelikan. Tell me, kind Nedyelka, how can I get the
bird, Pelikan?"
: The bird, Pelikan, my son? Ah, that is a task to
capture Pelikan! However, I will help you. Pelikan
is a giant bird with a long, long neck. When he shakes
his wings he raises such a wind that he blows down
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOl'S 73
the forest trees. Here is a gun. Take it and mount
my faithful Tatosh. He will carry you far away to
the vast wilderness where Pelikan lives. When you
get there, note carefully from what direction the wind
blows. Shoot in that direction. Then quickly push
the ramrod into the barrel of the gun and leave it there
and come back to me as fast as you can."
Vitazko took the gun and mounted Tatosh. The
magic steed rose on the wind and carried him far off
to the distant wilderness which was the home of the
bird, Pelikan. There Tatosh sank to earth and
Vitazko dismounted. Immediately he felt a strong
wind against his right cheek. He took aim in that
direction and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell and
instantly Vitazko pushed the ramrod into the gun
barrel. He threw the gun over his shoulder and
mounted Tatosh. Tatosh rose on the wind and in a
twinkling had carried him back to St. Nedyelka.
"Well, son, how did things go?' the old woman
asked as usual.
' I don't know," Vitazko said. " I did as you told
me. Here is the gun."
" Let me see," Nedyelka said, squinting into the gun
barrel. ' Ah, son, things went very well indeed! Here
is Pelikan inside the barrel.'
74 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
She drew something out of the gun barrel and sure
enough it was the bird, Pelikan.
She gave Vitazko another gun and told him to go
out and shoot an eagle. Then she told him to cany
Pelikan home to his mother, but instead of giving him
Pelikan she gave him the eagle.
When Sharkan and his mother saw Vitazko coming,
they decided that this time they would send him after
the Golden Apples. These grew in the garden of the
most powerful dragon in the world.
" If Vitazko goes near him," Sharkan said, " the
dragon will tear him to pieces for he knows that it
was Vitazko who killed all his brother dragons."
So the mother again feigned sickness and, when
Vitazko rushed in to her and offered her what he sup-
posed was Pelikan, she moaned and groaned and
pushed the bird aside.
" Too late! Too late! I'm dying! "
"Don't say that!" poor Vitazko begged. "Will
nothing save you?'
Yes, the Golden Apples that grow in the garden
of Mightiest Dragon could still save me. If you really
loved me you'd get them for me."
' I do love you, mother," Vitazko cried, " and I'll
get you the Golden Apples wherever they are ! "
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 75
So without a moment's rest he hurried back to
St. Nedyelka.
"Well, son, what is it now?" the old woman asked.
Vitazko wept.
" It's my poor mother. She's still sick. Pelikan
hasn't cured her. She says now that only the Golden
Apples from the garden of Mightiest Dragon can cure
her. Dear, kind Nedyelka, tell me, what shall I do? '
" The Golden Apples from the garden of Mightiest
Dragon! Ah, my son, that will be a task for you!
For this you will need eveiy ounce of your strength
and more! But never fear! I will again befriend
you. Here is a ring. Put it on a finger of your
right hand and when you are sore pressed twist the
ring around your finger and think of me. Instantly
you will have the strength of a hundred fighting men.
Now take this sword, mount the faithful Tatosh, and
good luck go with you."
Vitazko thanked the dear old woman, mounted
Tatosh, and was soon carried far away to the garden
of the dragon. A high wall surrounded the garden,
so high that Vitazko could never have scaled it alone.
But it is as easy for a horse like Tatosh to take a high
wall as it is for a bird.
Inside the garden Vitazko dismounted and began to
76 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
look for the tree that bore the Golden Apples. Pres-
ently he met a beautiful young girl who asked him
what he was doing in the dragon's garden.
'* I'm looking for the Golden Apples," he told her.
" I want some of them for my sick mother. Do you
know where they are ? '
mi
" I do indeed know where they are," the girl said,
" for it is my duty to guard them. If I were to give
you one the wicked dragon would tear me to pieces.
I am a royal princess but I am in the dragon's power
and must do as he says. Dear youth, take my advice
and escape while you can. If the dragon sees you he
will kill you as he would a fly."
But Vitazko was not to be dissuaded from his quest.
' Nay, sweet princess, I must get the apples."
" Well, then," she said, " I will help you all I can.
Here is a precious ring. Put it on a finger of your
left hand. When you are sore pressed, think of me
and twist the ring and you will have the strength of
a hundred men. To conquer this horrible monster you
will need the strength of more than a hundred."
Vitazko put on the ring, thanked the princess, and
marched boldly on. In the center of the garden he
found the tree that bore the Golden Apples. Under it
lay the dragon himself.
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 77
On sight of Vitazko he raised his head and bellowed
out:
" Ho, you murderer of dragons, what do you want
here?"
Nothing daunted, Vitazko replied:
" I am come to shake down some of the Golden
Apples."
"Indeed!' the dragon roared. 'Then you will
have to shake them down over my dead body ! '
" I shall be glad to do that! " Vitazko said, springing
at the dragon and at the same time twisting around
the ring on his right hand and thinking of kind old
St. Nedyelka.
The dragon grappled with him and for a
moment almost took him off his feet. Then Vitazko
plunged the dragon into the earth up to his
ankles.
Just then there was the rustling of wings overhead
and a black raven cawed out:
" Which of you wants my help, you, oh Mightiest
Dragon, or you, Vitazko, the Victorious? '
"Help me!" the dragon roared.
" Then what will you give me? '
" As much gold as you want."
"Nay, raven," Vitazko shouted, "help me and I
78 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
will give you all the dragon's horses that are grazing
over yonder in the meadow."
' Very well, Vitazko," the raven croaked. " I'll
help you. What shall I do?"
' Cool me when I'm hot," Vitazko said, " when the
dragon breathes on me his fiery breath."
They grappled again and the dragon plunged
Vitazko into the ground up to his ankles. Twisting
the ring on his right hand and thinking of St. Ned-
yelka, Vitazko gripped the dragon around the
waist and plunged him into the earth up to his
knees.
Then they paused for breath and the raven which
had dipped its wings in a fountain sat on Vitazko's
head and shook down drops of cool water on his heated
face.
Then Vitazko twisted the ring on his left hand,
thought of the beautiful princess, and closed with the
dragon again. This time with a mighty effort he
gripped the dragon as if he were a stake of wood and
drove him into the ground up to his very shoulders.
Then quickly drawing Nedyelka's sword, he cut off the
dragon's head.
At once the lovely princess came running and her-
self plucked two of the Golden Apples and gave
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 79
them to Vitazko. She thanked him prettily for res-
cuing her and she said to him:
" You have saved me, Vitazko, from this fierce
monster and now I am yours if you want me."
" I do want you, dear princess," Vitazko said, " and,
if I could, I'd go with you at once to your father to
ask you in marriage. But I cannot. I must hurry
home to my sick mother. If you love me, wait for me
a year and a day and I'll surely return."
The princess made him this promise and they
parted.
Remembering the raven, Vitazko rode over to the
meadow and slaughtered the dragon's horses. Then
rising on Tatosh he flew home on the wind to St.
Nedyelka.
" Well, son, how did things go? ' the old woman
asked.
"Gloriously!" Vitazko answered, showing her the
Golden Apples. " But if the princess hadn't given me
a second ring I might have been vanquished."
" Take home the Golden Apples to your mother,"
Nedyelka said, " and this time ride Tatosh to the
castle."
So Vitazko mounted Tatosh again and flew to the
castle.
80 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
Sharkan and his mother were making merry to-
gether when they saw him coming.
" Here he comes again! " the mother cried. " What
shaU I do? What shaU I do? "
But Sharkan could think of nothing further to
suggest. So without a word he hurried to the tenth
chamber where he hid himself and the woman had
to meet Vitazko as best she could.
She laid herself on the bed feigning still to be sick
and when Vitazko appeared she greeted him most
affectionately.
"My dear son, back again? And safe and sound?
Thank God!"
Then when he gave her the Golden Apples she
jumped up from the bed, pretending that the mere
sight of them had cured her.
' Ah, my dear son!' she cried, petting him and
caressing him as she used to when he was a child.
" What a hero you are! '
She prepared food and feasted him royally and
Vitazko ate and was very happy that his mother was
herself again.
When he could eat no more she took a strong
woolen cord and, as if in play, she said to him:
" Lie down, my son, and let me bind you with this
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 81
cord as once I bound your father. Let me see if you
are as strong as he was and able to break the cord."
Vitazko smiled and lay down and allowed his mother
to bind him with the woolen cord. Then he stretched
his muscles and burst the cord asunder.
' Ah, you are strong! " his mother said. ' But come,
let me try again with a thin silken cord."
Suspecting nothing, Vitazko allowed his mother to
bind him hand and foot with a thin silken cord. Then
when he stretched his muscles, the cord cut into his
flesh. So he lay there, helpless as an infant.
" Sharkan! Sharkan! " the mother called.
The dragon rushed in with a sword, cut off Vitazko's
head, and hacked his body into small pieces. He
picked out Vitazko's heart and hung it by a string
from a beam in the ceiling.
Then the woman gathered together the pieces of
her son's body, tied them in a bundle, and fastened
the bundle on Tatosh who was still waiting below in
the courtyard.
You carried him when he was alive," she said.
Take him now that he's dead — I don't care where."
Tatosh rose on the wind and flew home to St.
Nedyelka.
The old wise woman who knew already what had
82 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
happened was waiting for him. She took the pieces
of the body from the bundle and washed them in the
Water of Death. Then she arranged them piece by
piece as they should be and they grew together until
the wounds disappeared and there were not even any
scars left. After that she sprinkled the body with the
Water of Life and, lo, life returned to Vitazko and
he stood up, well and healthy.
'Ah," he said, rubbing his eyes, "I've been asleep,
haven't I?"
; Yes," Nedyelka said, " and but for me you
would never have wakened. How do you feel, my
son?"
" All right," Vitazko said, ' except a little strange
as if I had no heart."
" You have none," Nedyelka told him. Your heart
hangs by a string from a crossbeam in the castle."
She told him what had befallen him, how his mother
had betrayed him and how Sharkan had cut him to
pieces.
Vitazko listened but he could feel neither surprise
nor grief nor anger nor anything, for how could he
feel since he had no heart?
You need your heart, my son," Nedyelka said.
" You must go after it."
Vitazko disguised as an old village piper
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 85
She disguised him as an old village piper and give
him a pair of bagpipes.
" Go to the castle," she told him, "and play
on these pipes. When they offer to reward you,
ask for the heart that hangs by a string from the
ceiling."
So Vitazko took the bagpipes and went to the castle.
He played under the castle windows and his mother
looked out and beckoned him in.
He went inside and played and Sharkan and his
mother danced to his music. They danced and danced
until they could dance no longer.
Then they gave the old piper food and drink and
offered him golden money.
But Vitazko said:
" Nay, what use has an old man for gold? '
"What then can I give you? ' the woman asked.
Vitazko looked slowly about the chamber as an old
man would.
' Give me that heart," he said, " that hangs from the
ceiling. That's all I want."
So they gave him the heart and Vitazko thanked
them and departed.
He carried the heart to Nedyelka who washed it
at once in the Water of Death and the Water of
86 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
Life. Then she placed it in the bill of the bird,
Pelikan, and Pelikan, reaching its long thin neck down
Vitazko's throat, put the heart in its proper place.
The heart began to beat and instantly Vitazko
could again feel joy and pain and grief and happi-
ness.
"Now can you feel?' Nedyelka asked.
" Yes," Vitazko said. " Now, thank God, I can feel
again! '
" Pelikan," Nedyelka said, " for this service you
shall be freed. ... As for you, my son, you must go
back to the castle once more and inflict a just punish-
ment. I shall change you into a pigeon. Fly to the
castle and there, when you wish to be yourself again,
think of me."
So Vitazko took the form of a pigeon and flying
to the castle alighted on the window-sill.
Inside the castle chamber he saw his mother fondling
Sharkan.
" See! " she cried. " A pigeon is on the window-sill.
Quick ! Get your crossbow and shoot it ! '
But before the dragon could move, Vitazko stood in
the chamber.
He seized a sword and with one mighty blow cut
off the dragon's head.
VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS 87
" And you — you wicked, faithless mother! " he cried.
" What am I to do to you? "
His mother fell on her knees and begged for mercy.
' Never fear," Vitazko said. ' I won't harm you.
Let God judge between us."
He took his mother by the hand and led her down
into the courtyard. Then he lifted the sword and
said:
" Now, mother, I shall throw this sword in the air
and may God judge between us which of us has been
faithless to the other."
The sword flashed in the air and fell, striking
straight to the heart of the guilty mother and killing
her.
Vitazko buried her in the courtyard and then re-
turned to St. Nedyelka. He thanked the old woman
for all she had done for him and then, picking up
his beech-tree club, he started out to find his beautiful
princess.
She had long since returned to her father and many
princes and heroes had come seeking her in marriage.
She had put them all off, saying she would wed no
one for a year and a day.
Then before the year was up Vitazko appeared and
she led him at once to her father and said:
88 VITAZKO THE VICTORIOUS
' This man will I marry, this and none other, for
he it was that rescued me from the dragon."
A great wedding feast was spread and all the
country rejoiced that their lovely princess was getting
for a husband Vitazko, the Victorious.
KURATKO THE TERRIBLE
THE STORY OF AN UNGRATEFUL CHICK
KURATKO THE TERRIBLE
THERE was once an old couple who had no
children.
" If only we had a chick or a child of our own! '
Grandmother used to say. " Think how we could pet
it and take care of it ! '
But Grandfather always answered:
" Not at all! We are very well off as we are."
At last the old black hen in the barnyard hatched
out a chick. Grandmother was delighted.
" See, Grandpa," she said, ' now we have a chick
of our own! '
But Grandfather shook his head doubtfully.
" I don't like the looks of that chick. There's
something strange about it."
But Grandmother wouldn't listen. To her the chick
seemed everything it should be. She called it Kuratko
and petted it and pampered it as though it were an
only child.
Kuratko grew apace and soon he developed an awful
appetite.
" Cockadoodledoo ! " he shouted at all hours of the
94 KURATKO THE TERRIBLE
day. ' I'm hungry! Give me something to eat!'
"You mustn't feed that chick so much!' Grand-
father grumbled. ' He's eating us out of house and
home."
But Grandmother wouldn't listen. She fed Kuratko
and fed him until sure enough there came a day when
there was nothing left for herself and the old
man.
That was a nice how-do-you-do! Grandmother sat
working at her spinning-wheel trying to forget that
she was hungry, and Grandfather sat on his stool
nearby too cross to speak to her.
And then, quite as though nothing were the matter,
Kuratko strutted into the room, flapped his wings, and
crowed :
" Cockadoodledo ! I'm hungry! Give me some-
thing to eat! '
" Not another blessed thing will I ever feed you,
you greedy chick! " Grandfather shouted.
"Cockadoodledo!" Kuratko answered. "Then I'll
just eat you! '
With that he made one peck at Grandfather and
swallowed him down, stool and all!
"Oh, Kuratko!" Grandmother cried. "Where's
Grandpa? '
KURATKO THE TERRIBLE 95
"Cockadoodledo!" Kuratko remarked. "I'm still
hungry. I think I'll eat you! '
And with that he made one peck at Grandmother
and swallowed her down, spinning-wheel and all!
Then that terrible chick went strutting down the
road, crowing merrily!
He met a washerwoman at work over her wash-tub.
"Good gracious, Kuratko!' the woman cried.
" What a great big crop you've got! '
"Cockadoodledo!" Kuratko said. "I should think
my crop was big for haven't I just eaten Grandmother,
spinning-wheel and all, and Grandfather, stool and all?
But I'm still hungry, so now I'm going to eat you! '
Before the poor woman knew what was happening,
Kuratko made one peck at her and swallowed her
down, wash-tub and all!
Then he strutted on down the road, crowing merrily.
Presently he came to a company of soldiers.
"Good gracious, Kuratko!' the soldiers cried.
" What a great big crop you've got! '
"Cockadoodledo!' Kuratko replied. 'I should
think my crop was big, for haven't I just eaten a
washerwoman, tub and all, Grandmother, spinning-
wheel and all, and Grandfather, stool and all? But
I'm still hungry, so now I'm going to eat you! '
96 KURATKO THE TERRIBLE
Before the soldiers knew what was happening,
Kuratko pecked at them and swallowed them down,
bayonets and all, one after another, like so many grains
of wheat!
Then that terrible chick went on strutting down
the road, crowing merrily.
Soon he met Kotsor, the cat. Kotsor, the cat,
blinked his eyes and worked his whiskers in
surprise.
" Good gracious, Kuratko, what a great big crop
you've got! '
" Cockadoodledo ! " Kuratko said. "I should think
my crop was big, for haven't I just eaten a company
of soldiers, bayonets and all; a washerwoman, tub and
all; Grandmother, spinning-wheel and all; and Grand-
father, stool and all? But I'm still hungry, so now
I'm going to eat you! '
Before Kotsor, the cat, knew what was happening,
Kuratko made one peck at him and swallowed him
down.
But Kotsor, the cat, was not a person to submit
tamely to such an indignity. The moment he found
himself inside Kuratko he unsheathed his claws and
began to scratch and to tear. He worked until he had
torn a great hole in Kuratko's crop. At that Kuratko,
KURATKO THE TERRIBLE 97
the Terrible Chick, when he tried again to crow,
toppled over dead!
Then Kotsor, the cat, jumped out of Kuratko's
crop; after him the company of soldiers marched out;
and after them the washerwoman with her tub, Grand-
mother with her spinning-wheel, and Grandfather with
his stool. And they all went about their business.
Kotsor, the cat, followed Grandmother and Grand-
father home and begged them to give him Kuratko for
his dinner.
" You may have him for all of me," Grandfather
said. " But ask Grandmother. He was her little pet,
not mine."
" Indeed you may have him," Grandmother said.
" I see now Grandfather was right. Kuratko was
certainly an ungrateful chick and I never want to hear
his name again."
So Kotsor, the cat, had a wonderful dinner and to
this day when he remembers it he licks his chops and
combs his whiskers.
SMOLICHECK
THE STORY OF A LITTLE BOY
WHO OPENED THE DOOR
SMOLICHECK
ONCE upon a time there was a little boy named
Smolicheck. He lived in a little house in the
woods with a deer whose name was Golden Antlers.
Every day when Golden Antlers went out he told
Smolicheck to lock the door after him and on no ac-
count to open it no matter who knocked.
" If you disobey me," Golden Antlers said, " some-
thing awful may happen."
' I won't open the door," Smolicheck always prom-
ised. ' I won't open it until you come home."
Now one day there was a knock on the door.
"Oh!' Smolicheck thought to himself, "I wonder
who that is! " and he called out:
"Who's there?"
From the outside sweet voices answered:
Smolicheck, Smolicheck, please open tlie door
Just a wee little crack of two fingers — no more!
We'll reach m our cold little hands to get warm,
Then leave without doi/ng you the least bit of harm!
So open, Smolicheck, please open the door! '
101
102 SMOLICHECK
But Smolicheck didn't think he ought to open the
door because he remembered what Golden Antlers had
told him. Golden Antlers was very kind but he
spanked Smolicheck when Smolicheck was disobedient.
And Smolicheck didn't want to get a spanking. So
he put his hands over his ears to shut out the sound of
the sweet voices and that time he didn't open the door.
You're a good boy," Golden Antlers said in the
evening when he came home. " Those must have been
the wicked little wood maidens. If you had opened
the door they would have carried you off to their cave
and then what would you have done! '
So Smolicheck was very happy to think he had
obeyed Golden Antlers and he said he would never
open the door to strangers, no, never!
The next day after Golden Antlers had gone out
and Smolicheck was left alone, again there came a
knocking on the door, and when Smolicheck called
out : ' Who's there ? ' voices sweeter than before an-
swered :
Smolicheck, Smolicheck, please open the door
Just a wee little crack of two fingers — no more!
We'll reach in our cold little hands to get warm,
Then leave without dovng you the least bit of harm!
So open, Smolicheck, please open the door! '
SMOLICHECK 103
Smolicheck said, no, he couldn't open the door. He
thought to himself that he would like to have one peep
at the wood maidens just to see what they looked
like. But he mustn't open the door even a crack, no,
he mustn't!
The little wood maidens kept on begging him and
shivering and shaking and telling him how cold they
were, until Smolicheck felt very sorry for them.
" I don't think it would matter," he said to himself,
" if I opened the door just a weeny teeny bit."
So he opened the door just a tiny crack. Instantly
two little white fingers popped in, and then two more
and two more and two more, and then little white
hands, and then little white arms, and then, before
Smolicheck knew what as happening, a whole bevy of
little wood maidens were in the room! They danced
around Smolicheck and they howled and they yelled
and they took hold of him and dragged him out of the
house and away towards the woods!
Smolicheck was dreadfully frightened and he
screamed out with all his might:
" Oh, dear Golden Antlers, wherever yon are
In valley or mountain or pasture afar,
Come quick! Don't delay!
The wicked wood maidens are dragging away
104 SMOLICHECK
Your little Smolicheck!
Come quick! Don't delay! '
This time by good luck the deer was not far away.
When he heard Smolicheck's cry, he bounded up,
drove the little wood maidens off, and carried Smoli-
check home on his antlers.
When they got home he put Smolicheck across his
knee and gave him something — you know what! — to
make him remember not to disobey next time. Smoli-
check cried and he said he never, never, never would
open the door again no matter how sweetly the wood
maidens begged.
For some days no one came to the door. Then
again one afternoon there was a knocking and sweet
voices called out:
" Smolicheck, Smolicheck, please open the door
Just a wee little crack of two fingers — no more!
We'll reach m our cold little hands to get -warm,
Then leave without doing you the least bit of harm!
So open, Smolicheck, please open the door! '
But Smolicheck pretended he didn't hear. Then
when the little wood maidens began to shake and to
shiver and to cry with the cold and to beg him to
open the door just a little crack so that they could
warm their hands, he said to them:
SMOLICHECK 105
" No, I won't open the door, not even a teeny
weeny crack, because if I do you'll push in as you did
before and catch me and drag me off! '
The wicked little wood maidens said:
" Oh no, Smolicheck, we wouldn't do that! We'd
never think of such a thing! And besides, if we did
take you with us, you'd have a much better time with
us than you have here, shut up in a little house all
alone, while Golden Antlers is off having a good time
by himself. We'd give you pretty toys and we'd play
with you and you'd be very happy."
Just think: Smolicheck listened to them until he
believed what they said! Then he opened the door a
little crack and instantly all those naughty little wood
maidens pushed into the room, seized Smolicheck, and
dragged him off.
They told him they would kill him if he cried for
help, but nevertheless Smolicheck called out with all
his might:
" Oh, dear Golden Antlers, wherever you are
In valley or mountain or pasture afar,
Come quick! Don't delay!
The wicked wood maidens are dragging away
Your little Smolicheck!
Come quick! Don't delay! '
106 SMOLICHECK
But this time Golden Antlers was far away and
didn't hear him. So no one came to help Smolicheck
and the wood maidens carried him off to their cave.
There, instead of playing with him, they tormented
him and teased him and made faces at him. But they
did give him all he wanted to eat. In fact they stuffed
him with food, especially sweets. Then every day
they would pinch him and say to each other:
" Sister, do you think he's fat enough yet to roast? '
Imagine poor Smolicheck's feelings when he found
they were fattening him on sweets because they ex-
pected to roast him and eat him!
Finally one day after they had been stuffing him
for a long time they cut his little finger with a knife
to see how fat it was.
" Yum, yum! " the wicked little wood maidens cried.
" He's fat enough! Today we can roast him! '
So they took off his clothes and laid him in a knead-
ing trough and prepared him for the oven.
Smolicheck was so frightened that he just screamed
and screamed, but the louder he screamed the more
the little wood maidens laughed and clapped their
hands.
Just as they were pushing him into the oven, Smoli-
check roared out:
SMOLICHECK 107
" Oh, dear Golden Antlers, wherever you are
In valley or mountain or pasture afar,
Come quick! Don't delay!
The wicked wood maidens are roasting today
Your little Smolicheck!
Come quick! Don't delay! '
Suddenly there was the sound of crashing branches
and, before the wood maidens knew what was happen-
ing, Golden Antlers came bounding into the cave. He
tossed Smolicheck upon his antlers and off he sped as
swift as the wind.
When they got home, he laid Smolicheck across his
knee and gave him something — you know what! And
Smolicheck cried and said he was sorry he had been
disobedient. And he said he would never, never, never
again open the door.
And this time he never did!
BUDULINEK
THE STORY OF ANOTHER LITTLE BOY
WHO OPENED THE DOOR
BUDULINEK
THERE was once a little boy named Budulinek.
He lived with his old Granny in a cottage near
a forest.
Granny went out to work every day. In the morn-
ing when she went away she always said:
" There, Budulinek, there's your dinner on the table
and mind, you mustn't open the door no matter who
knocks ! '
One morning Granny said:
" Now, Budulinek, today I'm leaving you some soup
for your dinner. Eat it when dinner time comes. And
remember what I always say: don't open the door no
matter who knocks."
She went away and pretty soon Lishka, the sly old
mother fox, came and knocked on the door.
"Budulinek!" she called. "You know me! Open
the door! Please! '
Budulinek called back:
" No, I mustn't open the door."
But Lishka, the sly old mother fox, kept on
knocking.
in
112 BUDULINEK
'Listen, Budulinek," she said: 'if you open the
door, do you know what I'll do? I'll give you a ride
on my tail ! '
Now Budulinek thought to himself:
" Oh, that would be fun to ride on the tail of Lishka,
the fox!"
So Budulinek forgot all about what Granny said to
him every day and opened the door.
Lishka, the sly old thing, came into the room and
what do you think she did? Do you think she gave
Budulinek a ride on her tail? Well, she didn't. She
just went over to the table and gobbled up the bowl
of soup that Granny had put there for Budulinek's
dinner and then she ran away.
When dinner time came Budulinek hadn't anything
to eat.
In the evening when Granny came home, she said:
' Budulinek, did you open the door and let any
• O 55
one m?
Budulinek was crying because he was so hungry,
and he said:
" Yes, I let in Lishka, the old mother fox, and she
ate up all my dinner, too! '
Granny said:
" Now, Budulinek, you see what happens when you
BUDULINEK 113
open the door and let some one in. Another time
remember what Granny says and don't open the
door.
The next morning Granny cooked some porridge for
Budulinek's dinner and said:
" Now, Budulinek, here's some porridge for your
dinner. Remember: while I'm gone you must not
open the door no matter who knocks."
Granny was no sooner out of sight than Lishka came
again and knocked on the door.
" Oh, Budulinek! " she called. " Open the door and
let me in! '
But Budulinek said:
" No, I won't open the door! '
"Oh, now, Budulinek, please open the door!'
Lishka begged. " You know me! Do you know what
I'll do if you open the door? I'll give you a ride on
my tail! Truly I will!"
Budulinek thought to himself:
" This time maybe she will give me a ride on her
tail."
So he opened the door.
Lishka came into the room, gobbled up Budulinek's
porridge, and ran away without giving him any ride
at allc
114 BUDULINEK
When dinner time came Budulinek hadn't anything
to eat.
In the evening when Grivnny came home she said:
' Budulinek, did you open the door and let any
• o 55
one in?
Budulinek was crying again because he was so
hungry, and he said:
Yes, I let in Lishka, the old mother fox, and she
ate up all my porridge, too!'
' Budulinek, you're a bad boy! " Granny said. " If
you open the door again, I'll have to spank you! Do
you hear? '
The next morning before she went to work, Granny
cooked some peas for Budulinek's dinner.
As soon as Granny was gone he began eating the
peas, they were so good.
Presently Lishka, the fox, came and knocked on the
door.
" Budulinek! " she called. ' Open the door! I want
to come in ! '
But Budulinek wouldn't open the door. He took
his bowl of peas and went to the window and ate them
there where Lishka could see him.
"Oh, Budulinek!" Lishka begged. "You know
An organ-grinder began playing in front of Granny's cottage
BUDULINEK 117
me! Please open the door! This time I promise you
I'll give you a ride on my tail! Truly I will! '
She just begged and begged until at last Budlinek
opened the door. Then Lishka jumped into the room
and do you know what she did? She put her nose
right into the bowl of peas and gobbled them all up!
Then she said to Budulinek:
' Now get on my tail and I'll give you a ride! '
So Budulinek climbed on Lishka's tail and Lishka
went running around the room faster and faster until
Budulinek was dizzy and just had to hold on with all
his might.
Then, before Budulinek knew what was happening,
Lishka slipped out of the house and ran swiftly off
into the forest, home to her hole, with Budulinek still
on her tail! She hid Budulinek down in her hole with
her own three children and she wouldn't let him out.
He had to stay there with the three little foxes and
they all teased him and bit him. And then wasn't he
sorry he had disobeyed his Granny! And, oh, how
he cried!
When Granny came home she found the door open
and no little Budulinek anywhere. She looked high
and low, but no, there was no little Budulinek. She
asked every one she met had they seen her little Budu-
118 BUDULINEK
linek, but nobody had. So poor Granny just cried and
cried, she was so lonely and sad.
One day an organ-grinder with a wooden leg began
playing in front of Granny's cottage. The music made
her think of Budulinek.
" Orgar-grinder," Granny said, " here's a penny for
you. But, please, don't play any more. Your music
makes me cry."
"Why does it make you cry?' the organ-grinder
asked.
" Because it reminds me of Budulinek," Granny said,
and she told the organ-grinder all about Budulinek
and how somebody had stolen him away.
The organ-grinder said:
"Poor Granny! I tell you what I'll do: as I go
around and play my organ I'll keep my eyes open for
Budulinek. If I find him I'll bring him back to you."
" Will you? " Granny cried. " If you bring me back
my little Budulinek I'll give you a measure of rye and
a measure of millet and a measure of poppy seed and a
measure of everything in the house ! '
So the organ-grinder went off and everywhere he
played his organ he looked for Budulinek. But he
couldn't find him.
At last one day while he was walking through the
BUDULINEK 119
forest he thought he heard a little boy crying. He
looked around everywhere until he found a fox's
hole.
' Oho! " he said to himself. * I believe that wicked
old Lishka must have stolen Budulinek! She's prob-
ably keeping him here with her own three children!
I'll soon find out."
So he put down his organ and began to play. And
as he played he sang softly:
"One old fox
And two, three, four,
And Budulinek
He makes one more! '
Old Lishka heard the music playing and she said
to her oldest child:
" Here, son, give the old man a penny and tell him
to go away because my head aches."
So the oldest little fox climbed out of the hole and
gave the organ-grinder a penny and said :
" My mother says, please will you go away because
her head aches."
As the organ-grinder reached over to take the
penny, he caught the oldest little fox and stuffed him
into a sack. Then he went on playing and singing:
120 BUDULINEK
" One old fox
And two and three
And Budulinek
Makes four for me! '
Presently Lishka sent out her second child with a
penny and the organ-grinder caught the second little
fox in the same way and stuffed it also into the sack.
Then he went on grinding his organ and softly singing:
" One old fox
And another for me,
And Budulinek
He makes the three."
" I wonder why that old man still plays his organ,"
Lishka said and sent out her third child with a penny.
So the organ-grinder caught the third little fox and
stuffed it also into the sack. Then he kept on playing
and singing softly:
" One old fox —
ril soon get you! —
And Budulinek
He makes just two.
At last Lishka herself came out. So he caught her,
too, and stuffed her in with her children. Then he
sang:
BUDULINEK 121
" Four naughty -foxes
Caught alizw!
And Budulinek
He makes the five! '
The organ-grinder went to the hole and called
down:
" Budulinek ! Budulinek ! Come out ! "
As there were no foxes left to hold him back, Budu-
linek was able to crawl out.
When he saw the organ-grinder he cried and said:
" Oh, please, Mr. Organ-Grinder, I want to go
home to my Granny ! '
" I'll take you home to your Granny," the organ-
grinder said, ' but first I must punish these naughty
foxes."
The organ-grinder cut a strong switch and gave the
four foxes in the sack a terrible beating until they
begged him to stop and promised that they would
never again do anything to Budulinek.
Then the organ-grinder let them go and he took
Budulinek home to Granny.
Granny was delighted to see her little Budulinek
and she gave the organ-grinder a measure of rye and
a measure of millet and a measure of poppy seed and
a measure of everything else in the house.
And Budulinek never again opened the door!
THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
THE STORY OF A BOOSTER THAT CHEATED
THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
ONCE upon a time a big Rooster and a dear
little Hen became close friends.
' Let us go to the garden," the Rooster said, " and
scratch up some seeds and worms. I tell you what
we'll do: everything you scratch up you divide
with me, and everything I scratch up I'll divide with
you."
The dear little Hen agreed to this and off they went
together to the garden.
The dear little Hen scratched and scratched and
scratched and every time she scratched up a nice fat
worm or a tastv seed she divided with the Rooster.
•.•
And the Rooster scratched and scratched and
scratched and whenever the Hen saw him scratch up
something good he divided with her. But once, when
she wasn't looking, he scratched up a big grain of corn
and without dividing it he tried to gobble it all himself.
He gobbled it so fast that it stuck in his throat and
choked him.
" Oh, dear little Hen! " he gasped. " I'm choking!
Run quick and get me some water or I'll die! '
125
126 THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
And with that he fell over on his back and his feet
stuck straight up in the air.
The dear little Hen ran to the Well as fast as she
could and all out of breath she gasped:
" Oh Well!
Give me
Some Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
Hell die! "
The Well said:
' If you want me to give you some Water, you
must go to the Dressmaker and get me a Kerchief."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Dressmaker as fast
as she could and all out of breath she gasped :
" Dressmaker!
Give me
Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
THE DEAR LITTLE HEN 127
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'll die! "
The Dressmaker said :
" If you want me to give you a Kerchief, you must
go to the Shoemaker and get me a pair of Slippers."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Shoemaker as fast
as she could and all out of breath she gasped:
" Shoemaker!
Give me
Slippers
For Dressmaker
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'll die! "
The Shoemaker said:
" If you want me to give you a pair of Slippers, you
must go to the Sow and get me some Bristles."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Sow as fast as she
could and all out of breath she gasped:
128 THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
" Oh Sow!
Give me
Some Bristles
For Shoemaker
For Slippers
For Dressmaker
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'll die! "
The Sow said:
* If you want me to give you some Bristles, you
must go to the Brewer and get me some Malt."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Brewer as fast as
she could and all out of breath she gasped:
' Oh Brewer!
Give me
Some Malt
For Sow
For Bristles
For Shoemaker
For Slippers
For Dressmaker
THE DEAR LITTLE HEN 129
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'll die! "
The Brewer said:
" If you want me to give you some Malt, you must
go to the Cow and get me some Cream."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Cow as fast as she
could and all out of breath she gasped:
" Oh Cow!
Give me
Some Cream
For Brewer
For Malt
For Sow
For Bristles
For Shoe maker
For Slippers
For Dressmaker
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
130 THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'll die! "
The Cow said:
' If you want me to give you some Cream, you must
go to the Meadow and get me some Grass."
So the dear little Hen ran to the Meadow as fast as
she could and all out of breath she gasped:
" Oh Meadow!
Give me
Some Grass
For Cow
For Cream,
For Brewer
For Malt
For Sow
For Bristles
For Shoemaker
For Slippers
For Dressmaker
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Chokmg!
In garden!
On back!
Feet up!
Oh dear!
He'tt die! "
THE DEAR LITTLE HEN 131
The Meadow said:
"If you want me to give you some Grass, you must
get me some Dew from the Sky."
So the dear little Hen looked up to the Sky and
said:
" Oh Sky!
Dear Sky!
Give me
Some Dew
For Meadow
For Grass
For Cow
For Cream
For Brewer
For Malt
For Sow
For Bristles
For Shoemaker
For Slippers
For Dressmaker
For Kerchief
For Well
For Water
For Rooster!
Choking!
In garden!
On back!
Feet tip!
Oh Dear!
He'll die! "
132 THE DEAR LITTLE HEN
The Sky pitied the dear little Hen and at once gave
her some Dew.
So the Hen gave the Meadow the Dew, and the
Meadow gave the Hen some Grass.
The Hen gave the Cow the Grass, and the Cow gave
the Hen some Cream.
The Hen gave the Brewer the Cream, and the
Brewer gave the Hen some Malt.
The Hen gave the Sow the Malt, and the Sow gave
the Hen some Bristles.
The Hen gave the Shoemaker the Bristles, and the
Shoemaker gave the Hen a pair of Slippers.
The Hen gave the Dressmaker the Slippers, and the
Dressmaker gave the Hen a Kerchief.
The Hen gave the Well the Kerchief, and the Well
gave the Hen some Water.
The Hen gave the Rooster the Water, the Water
washed down the grain of corn, and thereupon the
Rooster jumped up, flapped his wings, and merrily
crowed :
"Cockadoodledoo!"
And after that he never again tried to cheat the
dear little Hen but always whenever he scratched up a
nice fat worm or a tasty seed he divided with her.
THE DISOBEDIENT ROOSTER
THE STORY OF ANOTHER LITTLE HEN
THE DISOBEDIENT ROOSTER
THERE were once a Rooster and a Hen who
were very good friends. They always went
about together like brother and sister.
The Rooster was headstrong and thoughtless and
often did foolish things. The little Hen was very sen-
sible and always looked after the Rooster as well as
she could.
Whenever he began doing something foolish, she
always said:
" Oh, my dear, you mustn't do that! '
If the Rooster had always obeyed the little Hen
he would be alive to this day. But, as I have told you,
he was careless and headstrong and often he refused
to take the little Hen's advice.
One day in the spring he ran into the garden and
just gorged and gorged on green gooseberries.
"Oh, my dear!" the little Hen cried. "You
mustn't eat green gooseberries! Don't you know
they'll give you a pain in your stomach ! '
But the Rooster wouldn't listen. He just kept
on eating gooseberry after gooseberry until at last he
135
136 THE DISOBEDIENT ROOSTER
got a terrible pain in his stomach and then he had to
stop.
" Little Hen," he cried, " help me! Oh, my stomach!
Oh! Oh!"
He was so sick that the little Hen had to give him
some hot peppermint and put a mustard plaster on his
stomach.
After that shouldn't you suppose he would do what
she told him? But he didn't. As soon as he
was well he was just as careless and disobedient as
before.
One day he went out to the meadow and he just
ran and ran and ran until he got all overheated and
perspired. Then he went down to the brook and began
drinking cold water.
' Oh, my dear," the little Hen cried, " you mustn't
drink cold water while you're overheated! Wait and
cool off!"
But would the Rooster wait and cool off? No! He
just drank that cold water and drank it until he could
drink no more.
Then he got a chill and the poor little Hen had to
drag him home and put him to bed and run for the
Doctor.
The Doctor gave him bitter medicine and he didn't
THE DISOBEDIENT ROOSTER 137
get well for a long time. In fact it was winter before
he got out of the house again.
Now shouldn't you suppose that after all this the
Rooster would never again disobey the little Hen?
If only he had he would be alive to this day. Listen,
now, to what happened:
One morning when he got up, he saw that ice was
beginning to form on the river.
" Goody! Goody! " he cried. ' Now I can go slid-
ing on the ice ! '
" Oh, my dear," the little Hen said, ' you mustn't
go sliding on the ice yet! It's dangerous! Wait a
few days until it's frozen harder and then go sliding."
But would the Rooster listen to the little Hen? No!
He just insisted on running out that very moment and
sliding on the thin ice.
And do you know what happened?
The ice broke and he fell in the river and, before the
little Hen could get help, he was drowned!
And it was all his own fault, too, for the little Hen
had begged him to wait until the ice was safer.
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE
THE STORY OF LIDUSHKA AND THE IMPRISONED DOVES
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE
THERE was once a young housewife named
Lidushka. One day while she was washing
clothes in the river a great frog, all bloated and ugly,
swam up to her. Lidushka jumped back in fright.
The frog spread itself out on the water, just where
Lidushka had been rinsing her clothes, and sat there
working its jaws as if it wanted to say something.
" Shoo! " Lidushka cried, but the frog stayed where
it was and kept on working its jaws.
"You ugly old bloated thing! What do you want
and why do you sit there gaping at me ? '
Lidushka struck at the frog with a piece of linen
to drive it off so that she could go on with her work.
The frog dived, came up at another place, and at once
swam back to Lidushka.
Lidushka tried again and again to drive it away.
Each time she struck at it, the frog dived, came up at
another place, and then swam back. At last Lidushka
lost all patience.
"Go away, you old fat thing!" she screamed. "I
have to finish my wash! Go away, I tell you, and
141
142 THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE
when your babies come I'll be their godmother! Do
you hear? '
As if it accepted this as a promise, the frog croaked:
" AU right! All right! All right! " and swam off.
Some time after this, when Lidushka was again
doing her washing at the river, the same old frog
appeared not looking now so fat and bloated.
"Come! Come, my dear!' it croaked. "You re-
member your promise! You said you'd be godmother
to my babies. You must come with me now for we're
having the christening today."
Lidushka, of course, had spoken jokingly, but even
so a promise is a promise and must not be broken.
" But, you foolish frog," she said, " how can I be
godmother to your babies? I can't go down in the
water."
" Yes, you can! " the old frog croaked. " Come on!
Come on! Come with me!'
It began swimming upstream and Lidushka fol-
lowed, walking along the shore and feeling every mo-
ment more frightened.
The old frog swam on until it reached the mill-dam.
Then it said to Lidushka:
" Now, my dear, don't be afraid ! Don't be afraid !
Just lift that stone in front of you. Under it you'll
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE 143
find a flight of stairs that lead straight down to my
house. I'll go on ahead. Do as I say and you can't
miss the way."
The frog disappeared in the water and Lidushka
lifted the stone. Sure enough there was a flight of
stairs going down under the mill-dam. And what kind
of stairs do you suppose they were? They were not
made of wood or stone but of great solid blocks of
water, laid one on another, transparent and clear as
crystal.
Lidushka timidly went down one step, then another,
and another, until halfway down she was met by the
old frog who welcomed her with many noisy croaks.
"This way, dear godmother! This way! Don't be
afraid! Don't be afraid! '
Lidushka picked up courage and took the remaining
stairs more bravely. The frog then led her to its house
which, like the stairs, was built of beautiful crystal
water, sparkling and transparent.
Inside everything was in readiness for the christen-
ing. Lidushka at once took the baby frogs in her arms
and held them during the ceremony.
After the christening came a mighty feast to which
many frogs from near and far had been invited. The
old frog presented them all to Lidushka and they
144 THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE
made much ado over her, hopping about her and croak-
ing out noisy compliments.
Fish course after fish course was served — nothing
but fish, prepared in every possible manner: boiled and
broiled and fried and pickled. And there was every
possible kind of fish: the finest carp and pike and
mullet and trout and whiting and perch and many
more of which Lidushka didn't even know the names.
When she had eaten all she could, Lidushka slipped
away from the other guests and wandered off alone
through the house.
She opened by chance a door that led into a sort of
pantry. It was lined with long shelves and on the
shelves were rows and rows of little earthenware pots
all turned upside down. It seemed strange to
Lidushka that they should all be upside down and
she wondered why.
She lifted one pot up and under it she found a lovely
white dove. The dove, happy at being released, shook
out its plumage, spread its wings, and flew away.
Lidushka lifted a second pot and under it there was
another lovely dove which at once spread its fluttering
wings and flew off as happy as its fellow.
Lidushka lifted up a third pot and there was a third
dove.
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE 145
'' There must be doves under all these pots ! ' she
told herself. ; What cruel creature has imprisoned
them, I wonder? As the dear God has given man a
soul to live forever, so He has given the birds wings
to fly, and He never intended them to be imprisoned
under dark pots. Wait, dear doves, and I'll set you
all free!"
So Lidushka lifted pot after pot and from under
every one of them an imprisoned dove escaped and
flew joyously away.
Just as she had lifted the last pot, the old frog came
hopping in to her in great excitement.
"Oh, mv dear, my dear!' she croaked. "What
•/ *
have you done setting free all those souls! Quick and
get you a lump of dry earth or a piece of toasted bread
or my husband will catch you and take your soul!
Here he comes now! '
Lidushka looked up through the crystal walls of the
house but could see no one coming. Then in the dis-
tance she saw some beautiful bright red streamers
floating towards her on the top of the water. They
came nearer and nearer.
"Oh!' she thought to herself in sudden fright.
"Those must be the red streamers of a nickerman!'
Instantly she remembered the stories her grand-
146 THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE
mother used to tell her when she was a child, how the
wicked nickerman lured people to their death with
bright red streamers. Many an innocent maid, haying
along the river, has seen the lovely streamers in the
water and reached after them with her rake. That is
what the nickerman wants her to do for then he can
catch her and drag her down, down, down, under the
water where he drowns her and takes her soul. The
nickerman is so powerful that, if once he gets you,
he can drown you in a teaspoon of water! But if you
clutch in your hand a clod of dry earth or a piece of
toasted bread, then he is powerless to harm you.
"Oh!' Lidushka cried. "Now I understand!
Those white doves were the souls of poor innocents
whom this wicked nickerman has drowned! God help
me to escape him! '
'Hurry, my dear, hurry!' the old frog croaked.
" Run up the crystal stairs and replace the stone ! '
Lidushka flew up the stairs and as she reached the
top she clutched a handful of dry earth. Then she
replaced the stone and the water flowed over the stairs.
The nickerman spread out his red streamers close
to the shore and tried to catch her, but she was not to
be tempted.
" I know who you are! " she cried, holding tight her
THE NICKERMAN'S WIFE 14-7
handful of dry earth. "You'll never get my soul!
And you'll never again imprison under your black pots
all the poor innocent souls I liberated ! '
Years afterwards when Lidushka had children of
her own, she used to tell them this story and say to
them :
' And now, my dears, you know why it is dangerous
to reach out in the water for a red streamer or a pretty
water lily. The wicked nickerman may be there just
waiting to catch you."
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
THE STORY OF A SHEPHERD WHO SLEPT ALL WINTER
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
ONCE upon a time there was a shepherd who was
called Batclia. During the summer he pastured
his flocks high up on the mountain where he had a
little hut and a sheepfold.
One day in autumn while he was lying on the
ground, idly blowing his pipes, he chanced to look
down the mountain slope. There he saw a most
amazing sight. A great army of snakes, hundreds
and hundreds in number, was slowly crawling to a
rocky cliff not far from where he was lying.
When they reached the cliff, every serpent bit off
a leaf from a plant that was growing there. They
then touched the cliff with the leaves and the rock
opened. One by one they crawled inside. When the
last one had disappeared, the rock closed.
Batcha blinked his eyes in bewilderment.
" What can this mean? " he asked himself. " Where
are they gone? I think I'll have to climb up there
myself and see what that plant is. I wonder will the
rock open for me ? '
He whistled to Dunay, his dog, and left him in
151
152 BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
charge of the sheep. Then he made his way over to
the cliff and examined the mysterious plant. It was
something he had never seen before.
He picked a leaf and touched the cliff in the same
place where the serpents had touched it. Instantly
the rock opened.
Batcha stepped inside. He found himself in a huge
cavern the walls of which glittered with gold and
silver and precious stones. A golden table stood in the
center and upon it a monster serpent, a very king of
serpents, lay coiled up fast asleep. The other ser-
pents, hundreds and hundreds of them, lay on the
ground around the table. They also were fast asleep.
As Batcha walked about, not one of them stirred.
Batcha sauntered here and there examining the walls
and the golden table and the sleeping serpents. When
he had seen everything he thought to himself:
' It's very strange and interesting and all that,
but now it's time for me to get back to my sheep."
It's easy to say: "Now I'm going," but when
Batcha tried to go he found he couldn't, for the rock
had closed. So there he was locked in with the
serpents.
He was a philosophical fellow and so, after puz-
zling a moment, he shrugged his shoulders and said:
13ATCHA AND THE DRAGON
" Well, if I can't get out 1 suppose I'll have to
stay here for the night."
With that he drew his cape about him, lay down,
and was soon fast asleep.
He was awakened by a rustling murmur. Thinking
that he was in his own hut, he sat up and rubbed his
eyes. Then he saw the glittering walls of the cavern
and remembered his adventure.
The old king serpent still lay on the golden table
but no longer asleep. A movement like a slow wave
was rippling his great coils. All the other serpents
on the ground were facing the golden table and with
darting tongues were hissing:
"Is it time? Is it time?"
The old king serpent slowly lifted his head and
with a deep murmurous hiss said:
"Yes, it is time."
He stretched out his long body, slipped off the
golden table, and glided away to the wall of the cavern.
All the smaller serpents wriggled after him.
Batcha followed them, thinking to himself:
" I'll go out the way they go."
The old king serpent touched the wall with his
tongue and the rock opened. Then he glided aside
and the serpents crawled out, one by one. When the
154 BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
last one was out, Batcha tried to follow, but the rock
swung shut in his face, again locking him in.
The old king serpent hissed at him in a deep
breathy voice:
" Hah, you miserable man creature, you can't get
out! You're here and here you stay!'
" But I can't stay here," Batcha said. " What can
I do in here? I can't sleep forever! You must let
me out! I have sheep at pasture and a scolding wife
at home in the valley. She'll have a thing or two to
say if I'm late in getting back!'
Batcha pleaded and argued until at last the old
serpent said:
" Very well, I'll let you out, but not until you have
made me a triple oath that you won't tell any one how
you came in."
Batcha agreed to this. Three times he swore a
mighty oath not to tell any one how he had entered
the cavern.
" I warn you," the old serpent said, as he opened
the wall, ' if you break this oath a terrible fate will
overtake you! '
Without another word Batcha hurried through the
opening.
Once outside he looked about him in surprise.
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON 155
Everything seemed changed. It was autumn when he
had followed the serpents into the cavern. Now
it was spring!
"What has happened?' he cried in fright. 'Oh,
what an unfortunate fellow I am! Have I slept
through the winter? Where are my sheep? And my
wife — what will she say? '
With trembling knees he made his way to his hut.
His wife was busy inside. He could see her through
the open door. He didn't know what to say to
her at first, so he slipped into the sheepfold and
hid himself while he tried to think out some likely
story.
While he was crouching there, he saw a finely
dressed gentleman come to the door of the hut and ask
his wife where her husband was.
The woman burst into tears and explained to the
stranger that one day in the previous autumn her
husband had taken out his sheep as usual and had
never come back.
" Dunay, the dog," she said, " drove home the sheep
and from that day to this nothing has ever been
heard of my poor husband. I suppose a wolf devoured
him, or the witches caught him and tore him to pieces
and scattered him over the mountain. And here I am
156 BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
left, a poor forsaken widow! Oh dear, oh dear, oh
dear!"
Her grief was so great that Batcha leaped out
of the sheepfold to comfort her.
" There, there, dear wife, don't cry! Here I am,
alive and well! No wolf ate me, no witches caught
me. I've been asleep in the sheepfold — that's all. I
must have slept all winter long!'
At sight and sound of her husband, the woman
stopped crying. Her grief changed to surprise, then
to fury.
You wretch ! ' she cried. You lazy, good-for-
nothing loafer! A nice kind of shepherd you are to
desert your sheep and yourself to idle away the winter
sleeping like a serpent! That's a fine story, isn't it,
and I suppose you think me fool enough to believe
it! Oh, you — you sheep's tick, where have you been
and what have you been doing? '
She flew at Batcha with both hands and there's
no telling what she would have done to him if the
stranger hadn't interfered.
' There, there," he said, " no use getting excited !
Of course he hasn't been sleeping here in the sheepfold
all winter. The question is, where has he been? Here
is some money for you. Take it and go along home
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON 167
to your cottage in the valley. Leave Batcha to me and
I promise you I'll get the truth out of him."
The woman abused her husband some more and then,
pocketing the money, went off.
As soon as she was gone, the stranger changed
into a horrible looking creature with a third eye in
the middle of his forehead.
' Good heavens! " Batcha gasped in fright. ' He's
the wizard of the mountain! Now what's going to
happen to me! '
Batcha had often heard terrifying stories of the
wizard, how he could himself take any form he wished
and how he could turn a man into a ram.
'Aha!' the wizard laughed. 'I see you know
me! Now then, no more lies! Tell me: where have
you been all winter long? '
At first Batcha remembered his triple oath to the
old king serpent and he feared to break it. But when
the wizard thundered out the same question a second
time and a third time, and grew bigger and more
horrible looking each time he spoke, Batcha forgot
his oath and confessed everything.
' Now come with me," the wizard said. c Show me
the cliff. Show me the magic plant."
What could Batcha do but obey? He led the
158 BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
wizard to the cliff and picked a leaf of the magic
plant.
" Open the rock," the wizard commanded.
Batcha laid the leaf against the cliff and instantly
the rock opened.
'Go inside!' the wizard ordered.
But Batcha's trembling legs refused to move.
The wizard took out a book and began mumbling
an incantation. Suddenly the earth trembled, the sky
thundered, and with a great hissing whistling sound
a monster dragon flew out of the cavern. It was the
old king serpent whose seven years were up and who
was now become a flying dragon. From his huge
mouth he breathed out fire and smoke. With his long
tail he swished right and left among the forest trees
and these snapped and broke like little twigs.
The wizard, still mumbling from his book, handed
Batcha a bridle.
" Throw this around his neck! " he commanded.
Batcha took the bridle but was too terrified to act.
The wizard spoke again and Batcha made one un-
certain step in the dragon's direction. He lifted his
arm to throw the bridle over the dragon's head, when
the dragon suddenly turned on him, swooped under
him, and before Batcha knew what was happening he
On, on, they went, whizzing through the stars of heaven
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
found himself on the dragon's back and he felt him-
self being lifted up, up, up, above the tops of the
forest trees, above the very mountains themselves.
For a moment the sky was so dark that only the fire,
spurting from the dragon's eyes and mouth, lighted
them on their way.
The dragon lashed this way and that in fury, he
belched forth great floods of boiling water, he hissed,
he roared, until Batcha, clinging to his back, was half
dead with fright.
Then gradually his anger cooled. He ceased belch-
ing forth boiling water, he stopped breathing fire,
his hisses grew less terrifying.
"Thank God!' Batcha gasped. "Perhaps now
he'll sink to earth and let me go."
But the dragon was not yet finished with punishing
Batcha for breaking his oath. He rose still higher
until the mountains of the earth looked like tiny ant-
hills, still up until even these had disappeared. On, on
they went, whizzing through the stars of heaven.
At last the dragon stopped flying and hung motion-
less in the firmament. To Batcha this was even more
terrifying than moving.
"What shall I do? What shall I do?" he wept
in agony. " If I jump down to earth I'll kill myself
162 BATCHA AND THE DRAGON
and I can't fly on up to heaven! Oh, dragon, have
mercy on me! Fly back to earth and let me go and
I swear before God that never again until death will
I offend you! '
Batcha's pleading would have moved a stone to pity
but the dragon, with an angry shake of his tail, only
hardened his heart.
Suddenly Batcha heard the sweet voice of the sky-
lark that was mounting to heaven.
"Skylark!" he called. "Dear skylark, bird that
God loves, help me, for I am in great trouble! Fly
up to heaven and tell God Almighty that Batcha, the
shepherd, is hung in midair on a dragon's back. Tell
Him that Batcha praises Him forever and begs Him
to deliver him."
The skylark carried this message to heaven and
God Almighty, pitying the poor shepherd, took some
birch leaves and wrote on them in letters of gold.
He put them in the skylark's bill and told the skylark
to drop them on the dragon's head.
So the skylark returned from heaven and, hovering
over Batcha, dropped the birch leaves on the dragon's
head.
The dragon instantly sank to earth, so fast that
Batcha lost consciousness.
BATCHA AND THE DRAGON 163
When he came to himself he was sitting before his
own hut. He looked about him. The dragon's cliff
had disappeared. Otherwise everything was the same.
It was late afternoon and Dunay, the dog, was driv-
ing home the sheep. There was a woman coming up
the mountain path.
Batcha heaved a great sigh.
" Thank God I'm back! " he said to himself. " How
fine it is to hear Dunay's bark! And here comes
my wife, God bless her! She'll scold me, I know, but
even if she does, how glad I am to see her! '
CLEVER MANKA
THE STORY OF A GIRL WHO KNEW WHAT TO SAY
CLEVER MANKA
THERE was once a rich farmer who was as
grasping and unscrupulous as he was rich. He
was always driving a hard bargain and always getting
the better of his poor neighbors. One of these neigh-
bors was a humble shepherd wrho in return for service
was to receive from the farmer a heifer. When the
time of payment came the farmer refused to give the
shepherd the heifer and the shepherd was forced to
lay the matter before the burgomaster.
The burgomaster, who was a young man and as yet
not very experienced, listened to both sides and when
he had deliberated he said:
' Instead of deciding this case, I will put a riddle
to you both and the man who makes the best answer
shall have the heifer. Are you agreed?'
The farmer and the shepherd accepted this proposal
and the burgomaster said:
' Well then, here is my riddle: What is the swiftest
thing in the world? What is the sweetest tiling?
What is the richest? Think out your answers and
bring them to me at this same hour tomorrow."
167
168 CLEVER MANKA
The farmer went home in a temper.
" What kind of a burgomaster is this young fellow! '
he growled. " If he had let me keep the heifer I'd
have sent him a bushel of pears. But now I'm in a
fair way of losing the heifer for I can't think of any
answer to his foolish riddle."
" What is the matter, husband? ' his wife asked.
" It's that new burgomaster. The old one would
have given me the heifer without any argument, but
this young man thinks to decide the case by asking us
riddles."
When he told his wife what the riddle was, she
cheered him greatly by telling him that she knew
the answers at once.
' Why, husband," said she, " our gray mare must
be the swiftest thing in the world. You know your-
self nothing ever passes us on the road. As for the
sweetest, did you ever taste honey any sweeter than
ours? And I'm sure there's nothing richer than our
chest of golden ducats that we've been laying by these
forty years."
The farmer was delighted.
"You're right, wife, you're right! That heifer
remains ours ! '
The shepherd when he got home was downcast and
CLEVER MANKA 169
sad. He had a daughter, a clever girl named Manka,
who met him at the door of his cottage and
asked :
'What is it, father? What did the burgomaster
say?"
The shepherd sighed.
' I'm afraid I've lost the heifer. The burgomaster
set us a riddle and I know I shall never guess it."
' Perhaps I can help you," Manka said. ' What is
it?"
So the shepherd gave her the riddle and the next
day as he was setting out for the burgomaster's, Manka
told him what answers to make.
When he reached the burgomaster's house, the
farmer was already there rubbing his hands and beam-
ing with self-importance.
The burgomaster again propounded the riddle and
then asked the farmer his answers.
The farmer cleared his throat and with a pompous
air began:
"The swiftest thing in the world? Why, my dear
sir, that's my gray mare, of course, for no other horse
ever passes us on the road. The sweetest? Honey
from my beehives, to be sure. The richest? What can
be richer than my chest of golden ducats!'
170 CLEVER MANKA
And the farmer squared his shoulders and smiled
triumphantly.
" H'm," said the young burgomaster, dryly. Then
he asked:
" What answers does the shepherd make? '
The shepherd bowed politely and said:
' The swiftest thing in the world is thought for
thought can run any distance in the twinkling of an
eye. The sweetest thing of all is sleep for when a
man is tired and sad what can be sweeter? The richest
thing is the earth for out of the earth come all the
riches of the world."
"Good!" the burgomaster cried. "Good! The
heifer goes to the shepherd ! '
Later the burgomaster said to the shepherd:
"Tell me, now, who gave you those answers? I'm
sure they never came out of your own head."
At first the shepherd tried not to tell, but when
the burgomaster pressed him he confessed that they
came from his daughter, Manka. The burgomaster,
who thought he would like to make another test of
Manka's cleverness, sent for ten eggs. He gave them
to the shepherd and said :
" Take these eggs to Manka and tell her to have
CLEVER MANKA 171
them hatched out by tomorrow and to bring me the
chicks."
When the shepherd reached home and gave Manka
the burgomaster's message, Manka laughed and said:
" Take a handful of millet and go right back to the
burgomaster. Say to him: ' My daughter sends you
this millet. She says that if you plant it, grow it, and
have it harvested by tomorrow, she'll bring you the
ten chicks and you can feed them the ripe grain.'
When the burgomaster heard this, he laughed
heartily.
" That's a clever girl of yours," he told the shep-
herd. ' If she's as comely as she is clever, I think
I'd like to marry her. Tell her to come to see me,
but she must come neither by day nor by night, neither
riding nor walking, neither dressed nor undressed."
When Manka received this message she waited
until the next dawn when night was gone and clay not
yet arrived. Then she wrapped herself in a fish-
net and, throwing one leg over a goat's back and keep-
ing one foot on the ground, she went to the burgomas-
ter's house.
Now I ask you: did she go dressed? No, sJu-
wasn't dressed. A fishnet isn't clothing. Did she
go undressed? Of course not, for wasn't she covered
172 CLEVER MANKA
with a fishnet? Did she walk to the burgomaster's?
No, she didn't walk for she went with one leg thrown
over a goat. Then did she ride? Of course she didn't
ride for wasn't she walking on one foot?
When she reached the burgomaster's house she called
out:
' Here I am, Mr. Burgomaster, and I've come
neither by day nor by night, neither riding nor walk-
ing, neither dressed nor undressed."
The young burgomaster was so delighted with
Manka's cleverness and so pleased with her comely
looks that he proposed to her at once and in a short
time married her.
' But understand, my dear Manka," he said, " you
are not to use that cleverness of yours at my expense.
I won't have you interfering in any of my cases. In
fact if ever you give advice to any one who comes to
me for judgment, I'll turn you out of my house at
once and send you home to your father."
All went well for a time. Manka busied herself in
her house-keeping and was careful not to interfere
in any of the burgomaster's cases.
Then one day two farmers came to the burgomaster
to have a dispute settled. One of the farmers owned
a mare which had foaled in the marketplace. The
CLEVER MANKA 173
colt had run under the wagon of the other farmer
and thereupon the owner of the wagon claimed the
colt as his property.
The burgomaster, who was thinking of something
else while the case was being presented, said carelessly:
" The man who found the colt under his wagon is,
of course, the owner of the colt."
As the owner of the mare was leaving the burgo-
master's house, he met Manka and stopped to tell her
about the case. Manka was ashamed of her husband
for making so foolish a decision and she said to the
farmer :
' Come back this afternoon writh a fishing net and
stretch it across the dusty road. When the burgo-
master sees you he will come out and ask you what YOU
V » •
are doing. Say to him that you're catching fish. When
he asks you how you can expect to catch fish in a
dusty road, tell him it's just as easy for you to catch
fish in a dusty road as it is for a wagon to foal. Then
he'll see the injustice of his decision and have the colt
returned to you. But remember one thing: you
mustn't let him find out that it was I who told you
to do this."
That afternoon when the burgomaster chanced to
look out the window he saw a man stretching a fish-
174 CLEVER MANKA
net across the dusty road. He went out to him and
asked:
' What are you doing? '
" Fishing."
' Fishing in a dusty road? Are you daft? '
' Well," tHe man said, " it's just as easy for me to
catch fish in a dusty road as it is for a wagon to
foal."
Then the burgomaster recognized the man as the
owner of the mare and he had to confess that what
he said was true.
' Of course the colt belongs to your mare and must
be returned to you. But tell me," he said, "who put
you up to this? You didn't think of it yourself."
The farmer tried not to tell but the burgomaster
questioned him until he found out that Manka was at
the bottom of it. This made him very angry. He
went into the house and called his wife.
' Manka," he said, " do you forget what I told you
would happen if you went interfering in any of my
cases? Home you go this very day. I don't care to
hear any excuses. The matter is settled. You may
take with you the one thing you like best in my house
for I won't have people saying that I treated you
shabbily."
CLEVER MANKA 17.;
Manka made no outcry.
" Very well, my dear husband, 1 shall do as you
say: I shall go home to my father's cottage and take
with me the one thing I like hest in your house. But
don't make me go until after supper. \Ve have been
very happy together and I should like to eat one last
meal with you. Let us have no more words but be
kind to each other as we've always been and then part
as friends."
The burgomaster agreed to this and Manka pre-
pared a fine supper of all the dishes of which her
husband was particularly fond. The burgomaster
opened his choicest wine and pledged Manka's health.
Then he set to, and the supper was so good that he
ate and ate and ate. And the more he ate, the more
he drank until at last he grew drowsy and fell sound
asleep in his chair. Then without awakening him
Manka had him carried out to the wagon that was
waiting to take her home to her father.
The next morning when the burgomaster opened
his eyes, he found himself lying in the shepherd's cot-
tage.
"What does this mean?' he roared out.
" Nothing, dear husband, nothing! ' Manka said.
" You know you told me I might take with me the one
176 CLEVER MANKA
thing I liked best in your house, so of course I took
you! That's all."
For a moment the burgomaster rubbed his eyes in
amazement. Then he laughed loud and heartily to
think how Manka had outwitted him.
' Manka," he said, " you're too clever for me.
Come on, my dear, let's go home."
So they climbed back into the wagon and drove
home.
The burgomaster never again scolded his wife but
thereafter whenever a very difficult case came up he
always said:
' I think we had better consult my wife. You know
she's a very clever woman."
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL
THE STORY OF A MAN WHO FOUND
THAT DEATH WAS NECESSARY
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL
ALONG time ago when Lord Jesus and the
blessed St. Peter walked about together on
earth, it happened one evening that they stopped at
a blacksmith's cottage and asked for a night's lodging.
You are welcome," the blacksmith said. ' I am
a poor man but whatever I have I will gladly share
with you."
He threw down his hammer and led his guests into
the kitchen. There he entertained them with a good
supper and after they had eaten he said to them:
' I see that you are tired from your day's journey.
There is my bed. Lie down on it and sleep until morn-
ing."
"And where will you sleep?' St. Peter asked.
" I? Don't think of me," the blacksmith said. " I'll
go out to the barn and sleep on the straw."
The next morning he gave his guests a fine brenk-
fast, and then sent them on their way with good wishes
for their journey.
As they were leaving, St. Peter plucked Lord
Jesus by the sleeve and whispered:
179
180 THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL
" Master, aren't you going to reward this man? He
is poor but yet has treated us most hospitably."
Lord Jesus answered Peter:
" The reward of this world is an empty reward. I
was thinking to prepare him a place in heaven. How-
ever, I will grant him something now."
Then he turned to the blacksmith and said:
" Ask what you will. Make three wishes and they
will be fulfilled."
The blacksmith was overjoyed. For his first wish
he said:
" I should like to live for a hundred years and always
be as strong and healthy as I am this moment."
Lord Jesus said:
' Very well, that will be granted you. What is your
second wish ? '
The blacksmith thought for a moment. Then he
said:
' I wish that I may prosper in this world and always
have as much as I need. May work in my shop
always be as plentiful as it is today."
" This, too, will be granted you," Lord Jesus said.
' Now for your third wish."
Our blacksmith thought and thought, unable at
first to decide on a third wish. At last he said:
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL 181
' Grant that whoever sits on the stool where you
sat last night at supper may be unable to get up
until I release him."
St. Peter laughed at this, but Lord Jesus nodded
and said:
"This wish, too, will be fulfilled."
So they parted, Lord Jesus and blessed St. Peter
going on their way, and the blacksmith returning home
to his forge.
Things came to pass as Lord Jesus had promised
they should. Work in plenty flowed into the black-
smith's shop. The years went by but they made no im-
pression on the blacksmith. He was as young as ever
and as vigorous. His friends grew old and one by one
died. His children grew up, married, and had children
of their own. These in turn grew up. The years
brought youth and maturity and old age to them all.
The blacksmith alone remained unchanged.
A hundred years is a long time but at last even it
runs out.
One night as the blacksmith was putting away his
tools, there came a knock at the door. The blacksmith
stopped his singing to call out:
"Who's there?"
182 THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL
" It is I, Death," a voice answered. " Open the
door, blacksmith. Your time has come."
The blacksmith threw open the door.
" Welcome," he said to the woman standing there.
"I'll be ready in a moment when I put away my
tools." He smiled a little to himself. " Won't you
sit down on this stool, dear lady, and rest you for a
moment? You must be weary going to and fro over
the earth."
Death, suspecting nothing, seated herself on the
stool.
The blacksmith burst into a loud laugh.
"Now I have you, my lady! Stay where you are
until I release you!'
Death tried to stand up but could not. She
squirmed this way and that. She rattled her hollow
bones. She gnashed her teeth. But do what she would
she could not arise from the stool.
Chuckling and singing, the blacksmith left her there
and went about his business.
But soon he found that chaining up Death had un-
expected results. To begin with, he wanted at once
to celebrate his escape with a feast. He had a hog
which had been fattening for some time. He would
slaughter this hog and chop it up into fine spicy sau-
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL 183
sages which his neighbors and friends would help
him eat. The hams he would hang in the chimney
to smoke.
But when he tried to slaughter the animal, the blow
of his axe had no effect. lie struck the hog on Hit-
head and, to be sure, it rolled over on the ground.
But when he stopped to cut the throat, the creature
jumped up and with a grunt went scampering off.
Before the blacksmith could recover from his surprise,
the hog had disappeared.
Next he tried to kill a goose. He had a fat
one which he had been stuffing for the village fair.
" Since those sausages have escaped me," he said,
" I'll have to be satisfied with roast goose."
But when he tried to cut the goose's throat, the
knife drew no blood. In his surprise he loosened his
hold and the goose slipped from his hands and went
cackling off after the hog.
'What's come over things today?' the black-
smith asked himself. ' It seems I'm not to have
sausage or roast goose. I suppose I'll have to be
satisfied with a pair of pigeons."
He went out to the pigeon-house and caught two
pigeons. He put them on the chopping-block and with
one mighty blow of his ax cut off both their heads.
184 THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL
" There! " he cried in triumph. " I've got you! '
But even as he spoke the little severed heads returned
to their bodies, the heads and bodies grew together as
if nothing had happened, and cooing happily the two
pigeons flew away.
Then at last the truth flashed upon the blacksmith's
mind. So long as he kept Death fastened to that stool,
nothing could die! Of course not! So no more spicy
sausages, no more smoked hams, no more roast goose —
not even a broiled pigeon! The prospect was not a
pleasing one, for the blacksmith loved good things to
eat. But what could he do? Release Death? Never
that! He would be her first victim! Well then, if
he could have no fresh meat, he would have to be con-
tent to live on peas and porridge and wheaten cakes.
This actually was what he had to do and what every
one else had to do when their old provisions were ex-
hausted.
Slimmer passed and winter followed. Then spring-
came bringing new and unforeseen miseries. With the
first breath of warm weather all the pests and insects
of the summer before revived, for not one of them had
been killed by the winter cold. And the eggs they had
laid all hatched out until the earth and the air and the
water swarmed with living creatures. Birds and rats
THE BLACKSMITH'S STOOL 185
and grasshoppers, insects and bugs and vermin of
every kind, covered the fields and ate up every green
thing. The meadows looked as if a tire had swept them
clean. The orchards were stripped bare of every leaf
and blossom.
Such hords of fish and frogs and water creatures
filled the lakes and the rivers that the water was
polluted and it was impossible for man to drink it.
Water and land alike were swarming with living
creatures not one of which could be killed. Even the
air was thick with clouds of mosquitoes and gnats and
flies.
Men and women walked about looking like tor-
mented ghosts. They had no desire to live on but they
had to live on for they could not die.
The blacksmith came at last to a realization of all
the misery which his foolish wish was bringing upon
the world.
" I see now," he said, " that God Almighty did well
when He sent Death to the world. She has her work
to do and I am wrong to hold her prisoner."
So he released Death from the stool and made no out-
cry when she put her bony fingers to his throat.
A GULLIBLE WORLD
THE STORY OF A MAN WHO DIDN'T BEAT HIS WIFE
A GULLIBLE WORLD
THERE was once a poor farm laborer, so poor
tluit all he owned in the world was a hen. He
told his wife to take this hen to market and sell it.
" How much shall I ask for it? " the woman wanted
to know.
"Ask as much as they'll pay, of course," the
laborer said.
So the woman took the hen by the feet and set out.
Near the village she met a farmer.
" Good day," the farmer said. ' Where are you
going with that hen? '
" I'm going to market to sell it for as much
as they'll pay me."
The farmer weighed the hen in his hand, pursed his
lips, thought a moment, and said:
" You better sell it to me. I'll pay you three
pennies for it."
" Three pennies? Are you sure that's as much as
you'll pay?'
" Yes," the farmer said, "three pennies is as much
as I'll pay.'
»>
189
190 A GULLIBLE WORLD
So the laborer's wife sold the hen for three pennies.
She went on to the village and there she bought a pretty
little paper bag with one of the pennies and a piece
of ribbon with another penny. She put the third
penny into the bag, tied the bag with the ribbon, slipped
the ribbon on a stick, put the stick over her shoulder,
and then, feeling that she had done a very good day's
work, she tramped home to her husband.
When the laborer heard how stupidly his wife had
acted, he flew into a great rage and at first threatened
to give her a sound beating.
" Was there ever such a foolish woman in the
world?' he shouted angrily.
The poor woman, who by this time was snuffling
and weeping, whimpered out:
' I don't see why you find so much fault with me!
I'm sure I'm not the only gullible person in the
world."
' Well," the laborer said, " I don't know. Perhaps
there are people in the world as gullible as you. I
tell you what I'll do: I'll go out and see if I can
find them. If I do, I won't beat you."
So the laborer went out into the world to see if he
could find any one as gullible as his wife. He
traveled several days until he reached a countryside
A GULLIBLE WORLD 191
where he was unknown. Here he came to a tine
castle at the window of which stood the lady of the
castle looking out.
" Now then, my lady," the laborer said to him-
self, " we'll see how gullible you are."
He stood in the middle of the road, looked intently
up at the sky, and then reaching out his arms as if he
were trying to catch hold of something he began jump-
ing up and down.
The lady of the castle watched him for a few
moments and then dispatched one of her servants
to ask him what he was doing. The servant hurried
out and questioned him and this is the story the clever
rascal made up:
" I'm trying to jump back into heaven. You see I
live up there. I was wrestling up there with one of
my comrades and he pitched me out and now I can't
find the hole I fell through."
With his eyes popping out of his head, the servant
hurried back to his mistress and repeated the laborer's
story word for word.
The lady of the castle instantly sent for the laborer.
You say you were in heaven?' she asked him.
" Yes, my lady, that's where I live and I'm going
back at once."
192 A GULLIBLE WORLD
" I have a dear son in heaven," the lady said. ' Do
you know him? '
" Of course I know him. The last time I saw
him he was sitting far back in the chimney corner
looking very sad and lonely."
"What! My son sitting far back in the chimney
corner! Poor boy, he must be in need of money! My
good man, will you take him something from me? I'd
like to send him three hundred golden ducats and
material for six fine shirts. And tell him not to be
lonely as I'll come to him soon."
The laborer was delighted at the success of his yarn
and he told the lady of the castle he'd gladly take with
him the ducats and the fine shirting and he asked her
to give them to him at once as he had to get back to
heaven without delay.
The foolish woman wrapped up the shirting and
counted out the money and the laborer hurried off.
Once out of sight of the castle he sat down by the
roadside, stuffed the fine shirting into the legs of his
trousers, and hid the ducats in his pockets. Then he
stretched himself out to rest.
Meantime the lord of the castle got home and his
wife at once told him the whole story and asked him
if he didn't think she was fortunate to find a man who
A GULLIBLE WORLD 193
had consented to deliver to their son in heaven three
hundred golden ducats and material for six fine shirts.
" What! " cried the husband. " Oh, what a gullible
creature you are! Who ever heard of a man falling
out of heaven! And if he were to fall, how could he
climb back? The rogue has swindled you! Which way
did he go? '
And without waiting to hear the poor lady's lamenta-
tions, the nobleman mounted his horse and galloped
off in the direction the laborer had taken.
The laborer, who was still resting by the wayside,
saw him coming and guessed who he was.
" Now, my lord, we'll try you," he said to himself.
He took off his broad-trimmed hat and put it on
the ground beside him over a clod of earth.
" My good fellow," said the nobleman, " I am look-
ing for a man with a bundle over his shoulder. Have
you seen him pass this way?'
The laborer scratched his head and pretended to
think.
" Yes, master," he said, '* seems to me I did see a
man with a bundle. He was running over there
towards the woods and looking back all the time. He
was a stranger to these parts. I remember now think-
ing to myself that he looked like one of those rogues
194 A GULLIBLE WORLD
that come from big cities to swindle honest country
folk. Yes, master, that's the way he went, over there."
The laborer seemed such an honest simple fellow
that at once the nobleman told him how the stranger
had swindled his wife.
" Oh, the rogue! " the laborer cried. " To think of
his swindling such a fine lady, too! Master, I wish
I could help you. I'd take that horse of yours and
go after him myself if I could. But I can't. I'm
carrying a bird of great value to a gentleman who lives
in the next down. I have the bird here under my hat
and I daren't leave it."
The nobleman thought that as the laborer had seen
the swindler he might be able to catch him. So he said:
" My good man, if I sat here and guarded your hat,
would you be willing to mount my horse and follow
that rascal? '
" Indeed I would, my lord, in a minute, for I can't
bear to think of that rogue swindling such a fine lady
as your wife. But I must beg you to be very careful
of this bird. Don't put your hand under my hat or
it might escape and then I should have to bear the loss
of it."
The nobleman promised to be most careful of the
bird and, dismounting, he handed his bridle to the
A GULLIBLE WORLD 195
laborer. That one mounted the nobleman's horse and
galloped off.
It is needless to say the nobleman never saw either
man or horse again. He waited and waited. At
last when he could wait no longer he decided that he
would have to take the bird home with him and let the
laborer follow. So he lifted the edge of the hat very
carefully, slipped in his hand, and clutched — the
dry clod of earth !
Deeply chagrined he went home and had to bear the
smiles of his people as they whispered among them-
selves that my lord as well as my lady had been
swindled.
The laborer as he neared his cottage called out to
his wife:
"It's all right, wife! You won't get that beating!
I find that the world is full of people even more
gullible than you ! '
THE CANDLES OF LIFE
THE STORY OF A CHILD FOR WHOM
DEATH STOOD GODMOTHER
THE CANDLES OF LIFE
TJ3ERE was once a poor man named Martin.
He was so very poor that when his wife gave
birth to a little boy, he could find no one who would
stand godmother to the child.
" No," he told his wife, ' there's no one that I've
asked who is willing to hold this infant at the christen-
ing."
The poor mother wept and moaned and he tried
to comfort her as best he could.
" Don't be discouraged, my dear wife. I promise
you your son will be christened. I'll carry him to
church myself and if I can find a godmother no other
way I'll ask some woman I meet on the road."
So Martin bundled up the baby and carried him to
church. On the way he met a woman whom he asked
to be godmother. She took the baby in her arms at
once and held it during the christening.
Now Martin supposed that she was just an ordinary
woman like any other. But she wasn't. She was
Death who walks about among men and takes them
when their time has come.
After the christening she invited Martin home with
199
200 THE CANDLES OF LIFE
her. She showed him through the various rooms of
her house and down into great cellars. They went
a long way underground through cellar after cellar to
a place where thousands upon thousands of candles
were burning. There were tall candles just lighted,
candles burned halfway down, and little short ones
nearly burned out. At one end of the place there was
a heap of fresh candles that had not yet been lighted.
" These," Death said, " are the candles of all the
people in the world. When a man's candle burns out,
then it is time for me to go for him."
' Godmother," Martin said, pointing to a candle that
was burning low, "whose may that be?'
' That, my friend, is your candle."
Martin was frightened and begged Death to lengthen
his candle, but Death shook her head.
" No, my friend," she said, " I can't do that."
She reached for a fresh candle to light it for the
baby just christened. While her back was turned,
Martin snatched a tall candle, lighted it, and then
pressed it on the stub of his own candle that was
nearly burned out.
When Death turned and saw what he had done, she
frowned reprovingly.
' That, my friend, was an unworthy trick. However,
THE CANDLES OF LIFE 201
it has lengthened your life, for what is done is done
and can't be undone."
Then she handed Martin some golden ducats as a
christening present, took the baby again in her arms,
and said :
' Now let us go home and give this young man back
to his mother."
At the cottage she made the sick woman comfortable
and talked to her about her son. Martin went out to
the tavern and bought a jug of ale. Then he spread
the table with food, the best he could afford, and God-
mother Death sat down on the bench and they ate
and drank together.
' Martin," she said to him at last, " you are very
poor and I must do something for you. I tell you
what I'll do: I'll make you into a great physician. I
will spread sickness in the world and you will cure it.
Your fame will go abroad and people will send for
you and pay you handsomely. This is how we'll work
together: when you hear of a person taken sick, go
to his house and offer to cure him. I will be there
invisible to every one but you. If I stand at the
foot of the sick man's bed, you will know that he's going
to get well. So then you can prescribe salves and
medicines, and when he recovers he'll think you have
202 THE CANDLES OF LIFE
cured him. But if I stand at the head of the sick
man's bed, you will know that he has to die. In that
case you must look grave and say that he is beyond
help. When he dies people wiD say how wise you were
to know beforehand."
She gave him further instructions and then, after
bidding her godchild and its mother a kind farewell,
she left.
Time went by and Martin's fame as a great physician
spread far and wide. Wherever Godmother Death
caused sickness, there Martin went and made mar-
velous cures. Dukes and princes heard of him and
sent for him. When he rubbed them with salve or
gave them a dose or two of bitter medicine and they
recovered, they felt so grateful to him that they gave
him anything he asked and often more than he asked.
He always remembered Death's warning not to treat
a sick man if she stood at his head. Once, however,
he disobeyed. He was called to prescribe to a duke of
enormous wealth. When he entered the room he saw
Death standing at the duke's head.
' Can you cure him? " they asked Martin.
" I can't promise," Martin said, ' but I'll do what
I can."
He had the servants turn the duke's bed around
THE CANDLES OF LIFE '203
until the foot instead of the head was in front of
Death. The duke recovered and rewarded Martin
richly.
But Death when next she met Martin reproved him:
" My friend, don't try that trick on me again. Be-
sides, it is not a real cure. The duke's time has come;
he must go to his appointed place; and it is my duty
to conduct him thither. You think you have saved
him from me and he thinks so, but you are both
mistaken. All you have given him is a moment's
respite."
The years went by and Martin grew old. His hair
whitened and his muscles stiffened. The infirmities
of age came upon him and life was no longer a joy.
" Dear Godmother Death," he cried, " I am old and
tired! Take me!"
But Death shook her head.
" No, my friend, I can't take you yet. You
lengthened the candle of your life and now you must
wait until it burns down."
At last one day as he was riding home after visiting
a sick man, Death climbed into the carriage with him.
She talked with him of old times and they laughed
together. Then jokingly she brushed his chin with a
green branch. Instantly Martin's eyes grew heavy.
204. THE CANDLES OF LIFE
His head slipped lower and lower and soon he fell
asleep on Death's lap.
" He's dead," the people said, when they looked in
the carriage. ' The famous Doctor Martin is dead!
Oh, what a great and good man he was! Alas, who
can take his place! '
He was buried with great pomp and all the world
mourned his death.
His son, whose name was Josef, was a stupid fellow.
One day as he was going to church, his godmother
met him.
" Well, Josef," she asked, " how are you getting
on?"
' Oh, pretty well, thank you. I can live along for
a while on what my father saved. When that's gone,
I don't know what I'll do."
" Tut! Tut! " said Death. " That's no way to talk.
If you only knew it, I'm your godmother who held
you at your christening. I helped your father to
wealth and fame and now I'll help you. I tell you
what I'll do: I'll apprentice you to a successful doctor
and I'll see to it that soon you'll know more than
he knows."
Death rubbed some salve over Josef's ears and led
him to a doctor.
THE CANDLES OF LIFE 205
" I wish you to take this youth as an apprentice,"
she said. " He's a likely lad and will do you credit.
Teach him all you know."
The doctor accepted Josef as an apprentice and
when he went out into the fields to gather herbs and
simples, he took the youth with him.
Now the magic salve with which Godmother Death
had anointed Josef enabled him to hear and understand
the whisperings of the herbs. Each one as he picked
it, whispered to him its secret properties.
' I cure a fever," one whispered.
" And I a rash."
" And I a boil."
The doctor was amazed at his apprentice's knowl-
edge of herbs.
You know them better than I do," he said. You
never make a mistake. It is I should be apprentice,
not you. Let us go into partnership. I will work1
under you and together we will make wonderful cures."
And so, owing to his godmother's gift, Josef became
a great physician of whom it was said that there was
no illness for which he could not find a remedial herb.
He lived long and happily until at last his candle
burned down and Death, his kind godmother, took him.
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
THE STORY OF A MAN WHOM THE DEVIL BEFRIENDED
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
THERE were once two men, a shoemaker and
a farmer, who had been close friends in youth.
The shoemaker married and had many children to
whom the farmer stood godfather. For this reason
the two men called each other " Godfather." When
they met it was ' Godfather, this," and " Godfather,
that." The shoemaker was an industrious little man
and yet with so many mouths to fill he remained poor.
The farmer on the other hand soon grew rich for he
had no children, to eat into his savings.
Years went by and money and possessions began to
change the farmer's disposition. The more he accumu-
lated, the more he wanted, until people were whisper-
ing behind his back that he was miserly and avaricious.
His wife was like him. She, too, saved and skimped
although, as I have told you, they had neither chick
nor child to provide for.
The richer the farmer grew, the less he cared for
his poor friend and his poor friend's children. Now
when they called him ' Godfather," he frowned im-
patiently, and whenever he saw any of them he pre.-
200
210 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
tended to be very busy for fear they should ask him
a favor.
One day when he had slaughtered beef, the poor shoe-
maker came to him and said:
' My dear Godfather, you have just made a
killing. Won't you please give me a little piece of
meat? My wife and children are hungry."
' No! " roared the rich man. ' Why should I feed
your family? You ought to save as I do and then
you wouldn't have to ask favors of any one."
Humiliated by the refusal, the shoemaker went home
and told his wife what his friend had said.
' Go back to him," his wife insisted, " and tell him
again that his godchildren are hungry. I don't think
he understood vou."
V
So the poor little shoemaker returned to the rich
man. He cleared his throat apologetically and
stammered :
" Dear Godfather, you — you don't want your poor
godchildren to go hungry, do you? Give me just one
small piece of meat — that's all I ask."
In a rage, the rich man picked up a hunk of meat
and threw it at his poor friend.
"There!' he shouted. "And now go to hell, you
and the meat with you, and tell the Devil I sent you."
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 211
The shoemaker picked up the piece of meat. It was
all fat and gristle.
" No use carrying this home," he thought to him-
self. " I think I hetter do as Godfather says. Yes,
I'll go to hell and give it to the Devil."
So he tramped down to hell and presented him-
self at the gate. The little devil who stood on
guard greeted him merrily.
"Hello, shoemaker! What do you want here?'
" I have a present for the Devil, a piece of meat
that Godfather gave me."
The little devil of a guard nodded his head under-
standingly.
' I see, I see. Very well then, come with me and
I'll lead you to Prince Lucifer. But I'll give you a
bit of advice first. When the Prince asks you what
present you'd like in return, tell him you'd like the
tablecloth off his own table."
The little devil of a guard then conducted the
shoemaker into Prince Lucifer's presence and the
Prince received him with every mark of consideration.
The shoemaker told him what Godfather had said and
presented him the hunk of meat. Lucifer received it
most graciously. Then he said:
' Now, my dear shoemaker, let me make you a
212 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
little present in return. Do you see anything here
that you'd like?"
" If it pleases your Highness," the shoemaker said,
" give me that cloth that is spread over your table."
Lucifer at once handed him the cloth and dismissed
him with many wishes for a pleasant journey back to
earth.
As the shoemaker was leaving the friendly little
devil of a guard said to him:
" I just want to tell you that's no ordinary table-
cloth that the Prince has given you. No, indeed!
Whenever you're hungry, all you've got to do is
spread out that cloth and say : ' Meat and drink for
one ! ' or, for as many as you want, and instantly
you will have what you ask."
Overjoyed at his good fortune the little shoe-
maker hurried back to earth. As night came on he
stopped at a tavern. He thought this was a good place
to try the tablecloth. So he took it out of his bag,
spread it over the table, and said:
" Meat and drink for one ! "
Instantly a fine supper appeared and the shoe-
maker ate and drank his fill.
Now the landlord of the tavern was an evil, covetous
fellow and when he saw how the tablecloth worked his
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 213
fingers itched to own it. He called his wife aside and
told her in guarded whispers what he had seen.
Her eyes, too, filled with greed.
"Husband," she whispered back, "we've got to get
possession of that tablecloth! Think what a help it
would be to us in our business! I tell you what
we'll do: tonight when the shoemaker is asleep we'll
steal his tablecloth and slip in one of our own in
its place. He's a simple fellow and will never know
the difference."
So that night while the shoemaker was asleep,
they tip-toed in, stole the magic tablecloth out of the
bag, and substituted one of their own.
The next morning when the shoemaker awoke and
spread out the cloth which he found in his bag and
said: ' Meat and drink for one!' of course nothing
happened.
" That's strange," he thought to himself. " I'll
have to take this back to the Devil and ask him to
give me something else."
So instead of going home he went back to hell and
knocked at the gate.
' Hello, shoemaker! ' the little devil of a guard
said. 'What do you want now?'
' Well, you see it's this way," the shoemaker ex-
214 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
plained: " this tablecloth of the Devil's worked all right
last night but it doesn't work this morning."
The little devil grinned.
" Oh, I see. And you want Prince Lucifer to take
it back and give you something else, eh? Well, I'm
sure he will. If you want my advice, I should say to
ask him for that red rooster that sits in the chimney
corner.'
The Prince received the shoemaker as kindly as
before and was perfectly willing to exchange the
tablecloth for the red rooster.
When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the
little devil of a guard said:
' I see you've got the red rooster. Now I just
want to tell you that's no ordinary rooster. Whenever
you need money, all you have to do is put that rooster
on the table and say: 'Crow, rooster, crow!' He'll
crow and as he crows a golden ducat will drop from
his bill!"
'What a lucky fellow I am!' the little shoemaker
thought to himself as he hurried back to earth.
As night came on he stopped again at the same
tavern and, when it was time to pay for his supper3
he put the red rooster on the table and said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!"
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 215
The rooster crowed and sure enough a golden ducat
dropped from his bill.
The covetous landlord licked his greedy lips and
hurried off to his wife.
" We've got a red rooster," the wife said. ' I'll
tell you what we'll do: when the shoemaker's asleep
we'll trade roosters. He's a simple fellow and will
never know the difference."
So the next morning after breakfast, when the
shoemaker put what he thought was his own rooster
on the table and said : ' Crow, rooster, crow ! ' of
course nothing happened.
" I wonder what's the matter with you," he said to
•J
the rooster. ' I'll have to take you back to the Devil."
So again he tramped down to hell and explained to
the little devil of a guard that the rooster no longer
dropped golden ducats from his bill.
The little devil listened and grinned.
" I suppose you want Prince Lucifer to give you
something else, eh?'
The shoemaker nodded.
"I'm sure he will," the little devil said. "He
seems to have taken quite a fancy to you. Now take
my advice and ask him for the pair of clubs that
are lying under the oven."
216 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
So the shoemaker when he was led again into
Lucifer's presence explained to the Prince that the
red rooster no longer worked and please would His
Highness give him something else instead.
The Prince was most affable.
" Certainly," he said.
»/ *
" Well then, Your Highness, I'd like that pair of
clubs I see under the oven."
Lucifer gave him the clubs and wished him a
pleasant journey home.
When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little
devil of a guard wagged his head and blinked his
eyes.
' Shoemaker," he said, " those are fine clubs ! You
don't know how fine they are! Why, they'll do any-
thing you tell them! If you point to a man and say to
them: 'Tickle that fellow!' they'll jump about and
tickle him under the ribs. If you say: ' Strike that
fellow! ' they'll hit him. And if you say: 'Beat him!'
they'll give him a terrible drubbing. Now I want you
to try these clubs on that landlord and his wife for
they have been playing tricks on you. They stole your
tablecloth and your rooster. When you reach the
tavern tonight, they'll be entertaining a wedding
party and they'll say they haven't any room for
you. Don't argue but quietly take out your clubs
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 217
and order them to knock about among the wedding
guests. Then order them to beat the landlord and his
wife and those two will soon cry for mercy and be
more than willing to return you your property."
The shoemaker thanked the little devil of a guard
for his good advice and, putting the clubs in his bag,
climbed back to earth. When he reached the tavern,
sure enough he found a wedding party feasting and
dancing.
"Get out of here!" the landlord cried. "There's
no room for you ! '
Without a word the shoemaker took out his clubs and
said:
" Clubs, knock around among the wedding guests! '
Instantly the two clubs went knocking about among
the wedding guests, tickling some and throwing down
others, until the place was in an uproar.
" Now beat the landlord and his wife ! ' the shoe-
maker cried.
At that the clubs hopped over to the landlord and
his wife and began beating them over the head and
shoulders until they both dropped on their knees before
the shoemaker and begged for mercy.
' Are you ready to give me back my tablecloth and
rooster? " the shoemaker asked.
218 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
Yes, yes! " they cried. " Only call off your clubs
and we'll give you back your tablecloth and rooster —
we swear we will ! '
When he thought he had punished them enough, the
shoemaker ordered the clubs to stop and the landlord
and his wife tottered off as fast as their trembling
legs could carry them. Presently they returned with
the tablecloth and the rooster.
So the shoemaker, when he got home, had all three
of the Devil's presents tucked safely away in his bag.
'Now, wife!' he cried. "Now, children! Now
we are going to have a feast! '
He spread out the tablecloth and said:
"Meat and drink for ten!"
Instantly such a feast appeared that for a moment
the poor wife and the hungry children couldn't believe
their eyes. Then they set to, and, oh ! I can't begin to
tell you all they ate!
When they could eat no more, the shoemaker said:
' That isn't all. I've got something else in my bag."
He took out the clubs and said:
"Clubs, tickle the children!"
Instantly the clubs hopped around among the
children and tickled them under the ribs until they
were all roaring with laughter.
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 210
"And that isn't all!" the shoemaker said. "I've
got something else in my bag."
He pulled out the red rooster, put him on the
table, and said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!'
The rooster crowed and a golden ducat dropped
from his bill.
"Oh!" the children cried, and the youngest one
begged: "Make him do it again! Make him do it
again! '
So again the shoemaker said: 'Crow, rooster,
crow ! ' and again a golden ducat dropped from the
rooster's bill.
The children were so amused that the shoemaker
kept the rooster crowing all night long until the room
was overflowing with a great heap of shining ducats.
The next day the shoemaker said to his wife:
" We must measure our money and see how much
we have. Send one of the children over to Godfather
to borrow a bushel measure."
So the youngest child ran over to the rich man's
house and said:
" Godfather, my father says will you please lend
us a bushel measure to measure our money."
"Measure your money!' the rich man growled.
220 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
"Pooh, pooh, what nonsense! Wife, where's that old
wornout measure that we're going to throw away?
It's the very thing to lend these beggars."
The woman who was just as disagreeable as the
man handed the child an old broken measure and
said, severely:
'See you bring it back at once!'
In a short time the little girl returned the measure.
"Thanks, Godfather," she said. "We've got a
hundred bushels."
"A hundred bushels!' the farmer repealed scorn-
fully after the child was gone. ' A hundred bushels
of what? Look inside the measure, wife, and see if you
find a trace of anything."
The woman peered inside the measure and found a
golden ducat lodged in a slit. She took it out and
the mere sight of it made her face and her husband's
face turn sick and pale with envy.
" Do you suppose those beggars really have got
some money?" he said. 'We better go over at once
and see."
So they hurried over to the shoemaker's cottage and
they shook hands with him and his wife most effusively
and they rubbed their hands together and they smiled
and they smiled and the rich man said:
He led them to Prince Lucifer
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS 223
'Dear Godfather, how are you? And how are all
my dear godchildren? And what is this good fortune
that has come to you? '
" I owe it all to you," the shoemaker said.
"To me?' the farmer repeated and, although he
began to feel sick inside to think that any one had
benefited through him, he kept on smiling and rubbing
his hands. ' Tell me about it, dear Godfather."
You know that piece of meat you gave me," the
shoemaker said. You told me to give it to the Devil.
I took your advice and made the Devil a present of it
and he gave me all these wonderful things in
return."
The shoemaker made the tablecloth spread itself, he
made the rooster crow and drop a golden ducat, and
he made the clubs dance merrily around the room and
tickle the children under the ribs.
The farmer and his wife grew sicker and sicker with
envy but they kept on smiling and rubbing their
hands and asking questions.
" Tell us, dear Godfather," they said, " what road
do you take to go to hell? Of course we're not expect-
ing to go ourselves but we'd just like to know."
The shoemaker told them the way and they hurried
home. They slaughtered their finest cattle and then,
224 THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
packing on their backs all the choicest cuts of the
meat, they staggered down to hell.
When the little devil of a guard saw them coming,
he grinned and chuckled.
"Welcome!' he cried. "We've been waiting for
you a long time ! Come right in ! '
He led them to Prince Lucifer and the Prince
recognized them instantly.
" It's very good of you coming before you had
to," he said. ' This saves me a trip to earth. I was
thinking just the other day it was time to go after
you. And see all that fine meat you've brought with
you! I certainly am glad to see you! It isn't often
I have the pleasure of meeting people as avaricious,
as greedy, as mean, as you two have been. In fact,
both of you are such ornaments to hell that I think
»'
I'll just have to keep you here forever! '
So the rich farmer and his wife were never again seen
on earth.
As for the shoemaker — he and his family lived
long and merrily. They shared their good fortune with
others, never forgetting the time when they, too,
suffered from poverty. And because they were good
and kind, the Devil's gifts brought them only happiness.
GENTLE DORA
THE STORY OF A DEVIL WHO MARRIED A SCOLD
GENTLE DORA
THERE was once a young devil who, as he
wandered over the earth, found a book. He
slipped it carelessly into his pocket and carried it down
to hell. Now this book contained a list of the good
deeds of a rich man, and the account of a good deed
is of course never allowed to enter hell.
The devils in hell when they opened the book were
greatly incensed over their comrade's stupidity and
at once they dragged him off to Prince Lucifer for
punishment.
Lucifer when he heard the case shook his head
gravely.
" This is a serious offense," he said to the culprit.
To atone you must do one of two things : every day
for seven years you must bring a soul to hell, or you
must remain on earth for seven years and take service
among men. Which will you do?'
The young devil was a stupid fellow and he knew
he would never be able to seduce a soul every day for
seven years. So he said:
227
228 GENTLE DORA
' If I must choose, Your Majesty, let it be exile
on earth for seven years."
So Lucifer pronounced sentence and the young devil
was driven out of hell and warned not to return until
the seven years were up.
Sad and forlorn he wandered up and down the
world looking for work. People everywhere were
suspicious of his black face and turned him away.
One day he met a man to whom he told his story.
" And just because I'm a devil," he said in con-
clusion, " no one will hire me."
" I know where you can get work," the man told
him. " Just beyond the next village there is a big
farm which is owned by a woman. She's always in
need of laborers for she has such a sharp tongue
and such a mean disposition that no one can stay
with her longer than a month. Her name is Dora
and in mockery the people hereabouts call her Gentle
Dora. Why don't you take service with her? As
you're a devil, you may be able to get the best of her."
The devil thanked the man for this suggestion and
at once presented himself to Gentle Dora. Gentle
Dora, as usual, was in need of laborers and so she
employed the devil instantly in spite of his black
face.
GENTLE DORA 229
From the start she worked him like a slave from
morning till night, scolded him incessantly, and didn't
give him half enough to eat. The poor fellow grew
thin and almost pale. The months went by and each
new month was harder to live through than the one
before.
' I can do a day's work with the best of them,"
the devil thought to himself, ' but there is no one,
either man or devil, who can stand this woman's
everlasting nagging. Oh dear, oh dear, what shall
I do?"
Now Gentle Dora was looking for a husband. She
had already had five husbands all of whom she had
nagged to death. On account of this record every
bachelor and widower in the village was a little shy
of proposing himself as a sixth husband.
The devil, who as I have told you was a simple
fellow, finally decided that it would be a mighty clever
thing for him to marry Gentle Dora. He felt sure
that once he was her husband she would give him less
work and more food. So he proposed to her.
The rich widow didn't much fancy his black face,
but on the other hand she wanted a husband and so,
as there was no other prospect in sight, she accepted
him.
230 GENTLE DORA
' At least," she thought to herself, ' by making
him my husband, I'll save his wages."
It wasn't long before the devil found out that life
as a husband was even harder than life as a laborer.
Now without wages he had ten times more to do
while Gentle Dora did nothing but spend her time
hunting work for him.
" Why do you think I've married," she would cry,
' if it isn't to have some one take care of
me!"
So she would stand over him and scold and scold
and scold while he, poor devil, toiled and sweated,
doing the work of six men.
Time went by and the devil grew thinner and thinner
and paler and paler. Gentle Dora begrudged him
every mouthful he ate and was forever harping on his
enormous appetite.
At last one day she said to him:
You're simply eating me out of house and home.
From now on you will have to board yourself. As
I'm an honest woman I'll treat you justly. This
year we'll divide the harvest half and half. Which
will you have: that which grows above the ground, or
that which grows below the ground ? '
This sounded fair enough and the devil said:
GENTLE DORA 231
4 Give me the part that grows above the ground."
Thereupon Gentle Dora had the whole farm planted
in potatoes and beets and carrots. When the harvest
came she gave the devil the tops and herself took all
the tubers.
That winter the poor devil would have starved if
the neighbors hadn't taken pity on him and fed him.
In the spring Gentle Dora asked him what part of
the new crop he wanted.
' This time," he said, " give me the part that grows
under the ground."
Gentle Dora agreed and then planted the entire
farm in millet and rye and poppy seed. At the
harvest she took all the grain as her share and told
the devil that the worthless roots belonged to
him.
" What chance has a poor devil with such a
woman?' he thought to himself bitterly.
Discouraged and unhappy he went out to the road-
side where he sat down. The troubles of domestic
life pressed upon him so heavily that soon he began
to cry.
Presently a journeyman shoemaker came by and said
to him:
" Comrade, what ails you? '
232 GENTLE DORA
The devil looked at the shoemaker and, when he
saw that the shoemaker was a friendly sort of person,
he told him his story.
' Why do you stand such treatment ? ' the shoe-
maker asked.
The devil snuffled.
'How can I help it? I'm married to her."
'How can you help it?' the shoemaker repeated.
' Comrade, look at me. At home I have just such a
wife as your Gentle Dora. There was no living with
her in peace, so one morning bright and early I ups
and puts my tool kit on my shoulder and leaves her.
Now I wander about from place to place, mending a
shoe here and a slipper there, and life is much
pleasanter than it used to be. Why don't you leave
your Gentle Dora and come along with me? We'll
make out somehow."
The devil was overjoyed at the suggestion and with-
out a moment's hesitation he tramped off with the
shoemaker.
You won't regret the kindness you've done me,"
the devil said. ' I'm so thin and pale that probably
you don't realize I'm a devil. But I am and I can
reward you."
They wandered about together for a long time
Soon he began to cry.
GENTLE DORA 235
living on the shoemaker's earnings. At last one day
the devil said:
" Comrade, you have befriended me long enough.
It is now my turn to do something for you. I've
got a fine idea. You see that big town we're coming
to? Well, I'll hurry on ahead and take possession of
the prince's young daughter. You come along more
slowly and when you hear the proclamation that the
prince will richly reward any one who will cure his
daughter, present yourself at the palace. When they
lead you to the princess, make mysterious passes over
her and mumble some gibberish. Then I will quit
her body and the prince will reward you."
The devil's scheme worked perfectly. When the
shoemaker reached the town the herald was alreadv
m
proclaiming the sad news that the princess had been
taken possession of by a devil and that the prince was
in search of a capable exorcist.
The shoemaker presented himself at the palace,
made mysterious passes over the princess's body, pre-
tended to mumble magic incantations, and in a short
time had apparently succeeded in exorcising the
devil.
In his gratitude for the princess's recovery, the
prince paid the shoemaker a hundred golden ducats.
236 GENTLE DORA
The devil waited for the shoemaker outside the town
gate.
" You see," he said when the shoemaker had shown
him the money, " I'm not an ungrateful devil."
They turned the same trick in several other cities
until the shoemaker had a heavy bag of gold.
" Now you're a rich man," the devil said, " and we
can part company. My seven years are up and I am
going soon to return to hell. But before I go I'm
going to take possession of one more princess. I
served Gentle Dora so long that it's a pleasant change
to rule some one. This time don't you try to exorcise
me. You're famous now and the princess's father will
probably hunt you out and beg you to cure his
daughter, but you must excuse yourself. This is all
I ask of you. If you allow yourself to be persuaded,
I'll punish you by taking possession of your body.
Don't forget!"
They bade each other good-bye and parted, the
shoemaker going west and the devil east.
Soon word began to pass up and down the land that
there was a great king toward the east who needed
the services of the famous exorcist to restore his
daughter. Emissaries of the king found the shoe-
maker and against his will dragged him to court. He
GENTLE DORA 237
declared he was powerless to help the princess but the
king wouldn't listen to him and threatened him with
torture and death if he refused to make the effort.
" Well then," the shoemaker said, after much
thought, " chain the princess to her bed, order out all
the attendants, and let me see her alone."
The king had these conditions fulfilled and the
shoemaker went boldly into the princess's chamber.
"Hist! Devil!" he called softly.
Instantly the devil jumped out of the princess's
mouth and when he saw the shoemaker he stamped his
foot in anger.
"What!" he cried. "You've come after my warn-
ing! Don't you remember what I told you? '
The shoemaker put his finger to his lips and winked.
" Softly, comrade," he whispered, " softly! I'm not
come to exorcise you but to warn you. You know that
precious wife of yours, Gentle Dora? Well, she's
traced you here and she's down in the courtyard now
waiting for you."
The devil turned white with fright.
"Gentle Dora!" he gasped. "Lucifer, help me!'
Without another word he jumped out the window
and flew straight down to hell as fast as the wind
could carry him. And so great is his fear of Gentle
238 GENTLE DORA
Dora that he has never dared to show his face on
earth again.
The king rewarded the shoemaker royally and to
this day the shoemaker is wandering merrily about
from place to place. Whenever he hears of a woman
who is a scold, he says:
' Why, she's a regular Gentle Dora, isn't she ? '
And when people ask him: " Who's Gentle Dora? '
he tells them this story.
THE DEVIL'S MATCH
THE STORY OF A FARMER WHO REMEMBERED WHAT
HIS GRANDMOTHER TOLD HIM
THE DEVIL'S MATCH
OXCE upon a time there was a poor farmer who
lived in a wretched tumble-down cottage
beyond the village and whose farm consisted of a
miserable little field no bigger than your hand. His
children were ragged and hungry and his wife was
always worried over getting them enough to
eat.
Yet the farmer was a clever fellow with a quick
shrewd wit and people used to say that he'd be able
to fool the devil if ever he had the chance. One day
the chance came.
His wife had sent him into the forest to gather a
bundle of faggots. Suddenly without any warning
a young man with black face and shiny eyes stood
before him.
" It's a devil, of course," the farmer told himself.
' But even so there's no use being frightened."
So he wished the devil a civil good-day and the
devil, who was really a very simple fellow indeed,
returned his greeting and asked him what he was
doing in the forest.
241
242 THE DEVIL'S MATCH
Now the farmer suddenly remembered that his
grandmother had once told him devils were afraid of
lime trees because the bast from lime trees is the one
thing in the world they are unable to break. That's
why, when you catch a devil, you must tie his hands to-
gether with bast.
So the farmer, recalling what his grandmother had
said, remarked casually:
" Oh, I'm looking for a lime tree. I want to strip off
some bast. Then I'm going after them " — and when
he said them he paused significantly — " and tie them
hand and foot."
He peeped at the devil out of the corner of his eye
and saw that the devil had turned almost white under
his black skin.
"He is a foolish one!' he thought to himself.
" Oh, don't do that! " the devil cried. " What have
we ever done to you? '
The farmer pretended to be firm and repeated that
that was just what he was going to do.
" Please listen to me," the devil begged. " If you
promise to let us alone I tell you what I'll do: I'll
bring you such a big bag of gold that it will make
you a rich man."
At first the farmer, being a shrewd fellow, pretended
THE DEVIL'S MATCH 243
that he cared nothing for money. Then gradually he
let himself be persuaded and at last said:
" Very well. If you bring me the gold within an
hour I won't bind you with bast. But don't keep
me waiting or I may change my mind."
The young devil — oh, you never saw a more stupid
young fellow! — scurried off and, long before the hour
was up, he came panting back with a great big bag of
gold.
" Is that enough? " he asked.
The farmer who had really never seen so much
money in all his life hemmed and hawed but finally
said:
" Well, it isn't as much as I expected but I'll accept
it."
The young devil, delighted with his bargain, hurried
back to hell and told all his black comrades how
grateful they ought to be to him for saving them
from the farmer who was planning to bind them,
hand and foot, with bast.
When the other devils heard the whole story, they
laughed at him loud and long.
"You are certainly the stupidest devil in hell!'
they said. " Why, that man has made a fool of
you!"
244 THE DEVIL'S MATCH
They discussed the matter among themselves and
decided that the devil would have to get back the bag
of gold or the story would leak out and thereafter the
people on earth would have no more respect for
devils.
" Go back to the farmer," they said, " and dare him
to a wrestling match. Tell him that whoever wins
the match is to keep the gold."
So the young devil went back to earth and dared
the farmer to a wrestling match. The farmer, who
saw how things were, said:
" My dear young friend, if I were to wrestle with
you I'm afraid I'd hurt you for I'm awfully strong.
I tell you what I'll do: I'll let you wrestle with my
old grandfather. He's ninety-nine years old but even
so he's more nearly in your class."
The devil agreed to this and the farmer — oh, but
that farmer was a sly one! — led him out into the forest
to a cave where a big brown bear lay asleep.
" There's my grandfather," the farmer said. ' Go
wake him up and make him wrestle."
The devil shook the bear and said:
"Wake up, old man! Wake up! We're going to
wrestle ! '
The bear opened his little eyes, stood up on his
THE DEVIL'S MATCH 245
hind legs, and taking the devil in his arms hugged him
until the devil thought his bones would all be crushed.
It was as much as the devil could do to escape with
his life.
' Oh, my poor ribs! My poor ribs! " he gasped when
he was safely back in hell. k He's a terrible man-
that farmer! Why, even his old grandfather is so
strong that I thought he'd squeeze me to
death!"
But when he had told his full story the other devils
laughed at him louder than before and told him that
the farmer had again fooled him.
" You've got to try another match with him," they
said. This time dare him to a foot race and mind
you don't let him fool you."
So in a day or two when the soreness was gone
from his bones the devil went back to earth and
dared the farmer to run a foot race with him.
' Certainly," the farmer said, ' but it's hardly fair
to let you run against me because I go like the wind.
I tell you what I'll do: I'll let you race with my
small son. He's only a year old and perhaps you
can beat him."
The devil — I never knew a more stupid fellow in
my life! — agreed to this and the farmer took him out
246 THE DEVIL'S MATCH
to a meadow. Under some bushes he showed him a
rabbit's hole.
"My little boy's asleep in there," he said. "Call
him out."
"Little boy!" the devil called. "Come out and
run a race with me ! '
Instantly a rabbit jumped out of the hole and went
hoppetylop across the meadow. The devil tried hard
to overtake him but couldn't. He ran on and on.
They came at last to a deep ravine. The rabbit
leaped across but the devil, when he tried to do the
same, slipped and fell and went rolling down over
stones and brambles, down, down, down, into a brook.
When he had dragged himself out of the water,
bruised and scratched, the rabbit had disappeared.
" I've had enough of that farmer," the devil said
when he got back to hell. ' Why, do you know, he
has a small boy just one year old and I tell you there
isn't one of you can beat that boy running! '
But the devils when they heard the rest of the story
only laughed and jeered and told their comrade that
the farmer had again tricked him.
" You've got to go back to him another time," they
said. " It will never do for people to get the idea
that devils are such fools."
THE DEVIL'S MATCH 247
" But I tell you I won't dare him to another
wrestling match," the young devil said, ' nor to a
foot race, either."
" Try whistling this time," his comrades told him.
" You ought to be able to beat him whistling. Now
have your wits about you and don't let him fool
you again."
So the devil went back to earth and said to the
farmer :
" We've got to have another contest for that bag
of money. This time let's try whistling."
" Very well," the farmer said. ' We'll have a
whistling match."
They went off into the forest and the farmer told
the devil to whistle first.
The devil whistled and all the leaves on the trees
shook and trembled. He whistled again and the twigs
began to crackle and break. He whistled a third
time and big branches snapped off and fell to the
ground.
" There! " the devil exclaimed, " Can you beat that? "
'My poor boy," the farmer said. (Oh, but that
farmer was a tricky one!) "Is that the best you
can do? Why, when I whistle, if you don't cover up
your ears you'll be deafened! And as likely as not
248 THE DEVIL'S MATCH
a tree will fall on you and kill yon! Now shall I
begin ' '
"Wait a minute!" the devil begged. "Won't yon
please tie up my ears before you begin because I don't
want to be deafened."
This was just what the farmer was hoping the
devil would say. So he took out a big kerchief and
put it over the devil's ears and also over his eyes and
tied it behind in a hard knot.
"Now then!" he shouted. "Take care!'
With that he began to whistle and as he whistled
he picked up a big branch off the ground and gave
the devil an awful crack over the head.
"My head! My head!" the devil cried.
" My poor fellow ! ' the farmer said, pretending
to be very sympathetic. " I hope that tree as it fell
down didn't hurt you! Now I'm going to whistle
again and you must be more careful."
This time when he whistled the farmer struck the
devil over the head harder than before.
"That's enough!" the devil shouted. "Another
tree has fallen on me! Stop! Stop!1
" No," the farmer insisted. You whistled three
times and I'm going to whistle three times. Are you
ready ? '
THE DEVIL'S MATCH 249
The poor devil had to say: ' Yes," and thereupon the
farmer began to whistle and at the same time to beat
the devil over his head and shoulders until the devil
supposed that the whole forest was falling on him.
"Stop whistling!" he shouted. "Stop or I'll be
killed!"
But the farmer wouldn't stop until he was too
exhausted to beat the devil any longer.
Then he paused arid asked:
"Shall I whistle some more?'
"No! No! No!" the devil roared. "Undo the
kerchief and let me go and I swear I'll never come
back ! "
So the farmer undid the kerchief and the devil
fled, too terrified to stop even long enough to look
around for all those fallen trees.
He never came back and the farmer was left in un-
disputed possession of the gold.
' I owe all my good fortune to my old grandmother,"
the farmer used to say, ' for she it was who told me
to tie them with bast.'
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
THE STORY OF A YOUTH WHO COULDN'T FIND WORK
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
ONCE upon a time there was a youth named
Peter. He was the son of a rich farmer but
on his father's death his stepmother robbed him of
his inheritance and drove him out into the world,
penniless and destitute.
' Begone with you now! ' she shouted. " Never
let me see your face again! '
"Where shall I go?" Peter asked.
" Go to the Devil, for all I care! ' the stepmother
cried and slammed the door in his face.
Peter felt very sad at being driven away from
the farm that had always been his home, but he was
an able-bodied lad, industrious and energetic, and he
thought he would have no trouble making his way
in the world.
He tramped to the next village and stopped at a
big farmhouse. The farmer was standing at the
door, eating a great hunk of buttered bread.
Peter touched his hat respectfully and said:
' Let every one praise Lord Jesus ! '
With his mouth stuffed full, the farmer responded:
253
254 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
"Until the Day of Judgment!" Then in a
different tone he demanded: "What do you want?'
' I'm looking for work," Peter said. ' Do you
need a laborer ? '
Peter was well dressed for he had on the last
clothes his kind father had given him. The farmer
looked him over and sneered.
' A fine laborer you would make ! You would do
good work at meals — I see that, and spend the rest
of your time at cards and teasing the maids! I
know your kind ! '
Peter tried to tell the farmer that he was industrious
and steady but with an oath the farmer told him to
go to the Devil. Then stepping inside the house he
slammed the door in Peter's face.
In the next village he applied for work at the
bailiff's house. The bailiff's wife answered his knock.
; The master is playing cards with two of his
friends," she said. ' I'll go in and ask him if he
has anything for you to do."
Peter heard her speak to some one inside and then
a rough voice bellowed out:
" No! How often have I told you not to interrupt
me when I'm busy! Tell the fellow to go to the
Devil!"
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 255
Without waiting for the bailiff's wife, Peter turned
away. Tired and discouraged he took a path into
the woods and sat down.
" There doesn't seem to be any place for me in
all the world," he thought to himself. " They all tell
me to go to the Devil — my stepmother, the farmer,
and now the bailiff. If I knew the way to hell I
think I'd take their advice. I'm sure the Devil would
treat me better than they do! '
Just then a handsome gentleman, dressed in green,
walked by. Peter touched his hat politely and said:
" Let every one praise Lord Jesus."
The man passed him without responding. Then he
looked back and asked Peter why he looked so
discouraged.
" I have reason to look discouraged," Peter said.
" Everywhere I ask for work they tell me to go to
the Devil. If I knew the way to hell I think I'd
take their advice and go."
The stranger smiled.
" But if you saw the Devil, don't you think you'd
be afraid of him? '
Peter shook his head.
" He can't be any worse than my stepmother, or
the farmer, or the bailiff.'
256 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
The man suddenly turned black.
'Look at me!' he cried. "Here I am, the very
person we've been talking about!'
With no show of fear Peter looked the Devil up
and down.
Then the Devil said that if Peter still wished to
enter his service, he would take him. The work
would be light, the Devil said, and the hours good, and
if Peter did as he was told he would have a pleasant
time. The Devil promised to keep him seven years
and at the end of that time to make him a handsome
present and set him free.
Peter shook hands on the bargain and the Devil,
taking him about the waist, whisked him up into the
air, and, pst! before Peter knew what was happening,
they were in hell.
The Devil gave Peter a leather apron and led
him into a room where there were three big caul-
drons.
" Now it's your duty," the Devil said, " to keep the
fires under these cauldrons always burning. Keep
four logs under the first cauldron, eight logs under
the second, and twelve under the third. Be careful
never to let the fires go out. And another thing,
Peter: you're never to peep inside the cauldrons. If
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 257
you do I'll drive you away without a cent of wages.
Don't forget!"
So Peter began working for the Devil and the
treatment he received was so much better than that
which he had had on earth that, sometimes, it seemed
to him he was in heaven rather than hell. He had
plenty of good food and drink and, as the Devil had
promised him, the work was not heavy.
For companions he had the young apprentice devils,
a merry black crew, who told droll stories and played
amusing pranks.
Time passed quickly. Peter was faithful at his work
and never once peeped under the lids of his three
cauldrons.
At last he began to grow homesick for the world
and one day he asked the Devil how much longer he
had still to serve.
Tomorrow," the Devil told him, " your seven years
are up."
The next day while Peter was piling fresh logs under
the cauldrons, the Devil came to him and said:
Today, Peter, you are free. You have served
me faithfully and well and I am going to reward you
handsomely. Money would be too heavy for you to
carry, so I am going to give you this bag which
258 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
is a magic bag. Whenever you open it and say: ' Bag,
I need some ducats,' the bag will always have just as
many as you need. Good luck go with you, Peter.
However, I don't believe you'll have a very good time
at first for people will think you're a devil. You know
you do look pretty black for you haven't washed for
seven years and you haven't cut your hair or nails."
" That's true," said Peter. * I just remember I
haven't washed ever since I've been down here. I
certainly must take a bath and get my hair cut and
my nails trimmed."
The Devil shook his head.
" No, Peter, one bath won't do it. Water won't
wash off the kind of black you get down here. I
know what you must do but I won't tell you just yet.
Go up into the world as you are and, if ever you need
me, call me. If the people up there ask you who
you are, tell them you're the Devil's little brother-
in-law. This isn't a joke. It's true as you'll find
out some day."
Peter then took leave of all the little black appren-
tices and the Devil, lifting him on his back, whisked
him up to earth and set him down in the forest on
exactly the same spot where they had met seven years
before.
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 259
The Devil disappeared and Peter, stuffing the magic
bag in his pocket, walked to the nearest village.
His appearance created a panic. On sight of him
the children ran screaming home, crying out:
"The Devil! The Devil is coining!"
Mothers and fathers ran out of the houses to see
what was the matter but on sight of Peter they ran
in again, barred all the doors and windows, and making
the sign of the cross prayed God Almighty to protect
them.
Peter went on to the tavern. The landlord and his
i
wife were standing in the doorway. As Peter came
toward them, they cried out in fright:
'O Lord, forgive us our sins! The Devil is
coming! '
They tried to run away but they tripped over each
other and fell down, and before they could scramble
to their feet Peter stood before them.
He looked at them for a moment and laughed.
Then he went inside the tavern, sat down, and said:
" Landlord, bring me a drink ! '
Quaking with fright the landlord went to the cellar
and drew a pitcher of beer. Then he called the little
herd who was working in the stable.
" Yirik," he said to the boy, " take this beer into
260 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
the house. There's a man in there waiting for it. He's
a little strange looking but you needn't be afraid. He
won't hurt you."
Yirik took the pitcher of beer and started in. He
opened the door and then, as he caught sight of
Peter, he dropped the pitcher and fled.
The landlord scolded him angrily.
" What do you mean," he shouted, " not giving
the gentleman his beer? And breaking the pitcher,
too! The price of it will be deducted from your
wages! Draw another pitcher of beer and place it
at once before the gentleman."
Yirik feared Peter but he feared the landlord more.
He was an orphan, poor lad, and served the landlord
for his keep and three dollars a year.
So with trembling fingers he drew a pitcher of beer
and then, breathing a prayer to his patron saint, he
slowly dragged himself into the tavern.
" There, there, boy," Peter called out kindly. " You
needn't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm
not the Devil. I'm only his little brother-in-law."
Yirik took heart and placed the beer in front of
Peter. Then he stood still, not daring to raise his eyes.
Peter began asking him about himself, who he
was, how he came to be working for the landlord, and
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 2G1
what kind of treatment he was receiving. Yirik
stammered out his story and as he talked he forgot his
fear, he forgot that Peter looked like a devil, and
presently he was talking to him freely as one friend
to another.
Peter was touched by the orphan's story and, pulling
out his magic money bag, he filled Yirik's cap with
golden ducats. The boy danced about the room with
delight. Then he ran outside and showed the land-
lord and the people who had gathered the present
which the strange gentleman had made him.
' And he says he's not the Devil," Yirik reported,
' but only his brother-in-law."
When the landlord heard that Peter really hadn't
any horns or a flaming tongue, he picked up courage
and going inside he begged Peter to give him, too,
a few golden ducats. But Peter only laughed at him.
Peter stayed at the tavern overnight. Just as he
fell asleep some one shook his hand and, as he opened
his eyes, he saw his old master standing beside him.
' Quick! " the Devil whispered. * Get up and hurry
out to the shed! The landlord is about to murder
the orphan for his money."
Peter jumped out of bed and ran outside to the
shed where Yirik slept. He burst open the door
262 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
just as the landlord was ready to stab the sleeping
boy with a dagger.
" You sinner! ' Peter cried. " I've caught you at
last! Off to hell you go with me this instant to stew
forever in boiling oil ! '
The landlord fainted with terror. Peter dragged
him senseless into the house. When he came to him-
self he fell on his knees before Peter and begged for
mercy. He offered Peter everything he possessed if
only Peter would grant him another chance and he
solemnly vowed that he would repent and give up
his evil ways.
At last Peter said:
" Very well. I'll give you another chance provided
that, from this time on, you treat Yirik as your son.
Be kind to him and send him to school. The moment
you forget your promise and treat him cruelly, I'll
come and carry you off to hell! Remember! '
There was no need to urge the landlord to remember.
From that night he was a changed man. He became
honest in all his dealings and he really did treat Yirik
as though he were his own son.
Peter stayed on at the tavern and stories about
him and his golden ducats began to spread through
the country-side. The prince of the land heard of
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 263
him and sent word that he would like to see him at
the castle. Peter answered the prince's messenger
that if the prince wished to see him he could come to
the tavern.
" Who is this prince of yours," Peter asked the
landlord, " and why does he want to see me? '
" He'd probably like to borrow some money from
you," the landlord said. " He's deep in debt for he
has two of the wickedest, most extravagant daughters
in the world. They're the children of his first
marriage. They are proud and haughty and they
waste the money of the realm as though it were so
much sand. The people are crying out against them
and their wasteful ways but the prince seems unable
to curb them. The prince has a third daughter, the
child of his second wife. Her name is Angelina and
she certainly is as good and beautiful as an angel.
We call her the Princess Linka. There isn't a man in
the country that wouldn't go through fire and water
for her — God bless her! As for the other two — may
the Devil take them ! '
Suddenly remembering himself, the landlord clapped
his hand to his mouth in alarm.
Peter laughed good-humoredly.
" That's all right, landlord. Don't mind me. As
264 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
I've told you before I'm not the Devil. I'm only his
little brother-in-law."
The landlord shook his head.
" Yes, I know, but I must say it seems much the
same to me."
One afternoon the prince came riding down to
the tavern and asked for Peter. He was horrified
at first by Peter's appearance, but he treated him most
politely, invited him to the castle, and ended by beg-
ging the loan of a large sum of money.
Peter said to the prince:
' I'll give you as much money as you want pro-
vided you let me marry one of your daughters."
The prince wasn't prepared for this but he needed
money so badly that he said:
"H'm, which one of them?"
" I'm not particular," Peter answered. " Any of
them will do."
When he gave the prince some money in advance,
the prince agreed and Peter promised to come to the
castle the next dav to meet his bride to be.
v
The prince when he got home told his daughters
that he had seen Peter. They questioned him about
Peter's appearance and asked him what sort of a look-
ing person this brother-in-law of the Devil was.
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 265
" He isn't so very ugly," the prince said, " really he
isn't. If he washed his face and trimmed his hair and
nails he'd be fairly good-looking. In fact I rather like
him."
He then talked to them very seriously about the
state )f the treasury and he told them that unless he
could raise a large sum of money shortly there was
danger of an uprising among the people.
" If vou, my daughters, wish to see the peace of the
country preserved, if you want to make me happy
in my old age, one of you will have to marry this
young man, for I see no other way to raise the
money."
At this the two older princesses tossed their heads
scornfully and laughed loud and long.
" You may rest assured, dear father, that neither of
us will marry such a creature! We are the daughters
of a prince and won't marry beneath us, no, not even
to save the country from ruin ! '
" Then I don't know what I'll do," the prince said.
" Father," whispered Linka, the youngest. Her
voice quavered and her face turned pale. ' Father,
if your happiness and the peace of the country depend
on this marriage, I will sacrifice myself, God help
me!"
266 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
" My child! My dear child! " the prince cried, tak-
ing Linka in his arms and kissing her tenderly.
The two elder sisters jeered and ha-ha-ed.
' Little sister-in-law of the Devil! " they said mock-
ingly. ' Now if you were to marry Prince Lucifer
himself that would be something, for at least you would
be a princess! But only to be his sister-in-law — ha!
ha ! — what does that amount to ? '
And they laughed with amusement and made nasty
evil jokes until poor little Linka had to put her hands
to her ears not to hear them.
The next day Peter came to the castle. The older
sisters when they saw how black he was were glad
enough they had refused to marrv him. As for Linka,
^J V •
the moment she looked at him she fainted dead away.
When she revived the prince led her over to Peter
and gave Peter her hand. She was trembling violently
and her hand was cold as marble.
" Don't be afraid, little princess," Peter whispered
to her gently. ' I know how awful I look. But
perhaps I won't always be so ugly. I promise you,
if you marry me, I shall always love you dearly."
Linka was greatly comforted by the sound of his
pleasant voice, but each time she looked at him she
was terrified anew.
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 267
Peter saw this and made his visit short. He handed
out to the prince as much money as he needed and then,
after agreeing to return in eight days for the wedding,
he hurried off.
He went to the place where he had met the Devil
the first time and called him by name with all his
might.
The Devil instantly appeared.
"What do vou want, little brother-in-law?'
•
" I want to look like myself again," Peter said.
" What good will it do me to marry a sweet little
princess and then have the poor girl faint away every
time she looks at me!'
" Very well, brother-in-law. If that is how you
feel about it, come along with me and I'll soon make
you into a handsome young man."
Peter leaped on the Devil's back and off they flew
over mountains and forests and distant countries.
They alighted in a deep forest beside a bubbling
spring.
"Now, little brother-in-law," the Devil said, "wash
in this water and see how handsome you'll soon be."
Peter threw off his clothes and jumped into the
water and when he came out his skin was as beautiful
and fresh as a girl's. He looked at his own reflec-
268 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
tion in the spring and it made him so happy that he
said to the Devil:
" Brother-in-law, I'm more grateful to you for this
than for all the money you've given me. Now my
dear Linka will love me! '
He put his arms about the Devil's neck and off
they flew once again. This time they went to a big
-city where Peter bought beautiful clothes and jewels
and coaches and horses. He engaged servants in fine
livery and, when he was ready to go to his bride, he
had a following that was worthy of any prince.
At the castle the Princess Linka paced her
chamber pale and trembling. The two older sisters
were with her, laughing heartlessly and making evil
jokes, and running every moment to the window to
see if the groom were coming.
At last they saw in the distance a long line of
shining coaches with outriders in rich livery. The
coaches drew up at the castle gate and from the first
one a handsome youth, arrayed like a prince, alighted.
He hurried into the castle and ran straight upstairs
to Linka's chamber.
At first Linka was afraid to look at him for she
supposed he was still black. But when he took her
hand and whispered : ' Dear Linka, look at me now
THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW 269
and you won't be frightened," she looked and it
seemed to her that Peter was the very handsomest
young man in all the world. She fell in love with
him on sight and I might as well tell you she's been
in love with him ever since.
The two older sisters stood at the window frozen
stiff with envy and surprise. Suddenly they felt some
one clutch them from behind. They turned in fright
and who did they see standing there but the Devil
himself!
" Don't be afraid, my dear brides," he said. ' I'm
not a common fellow. I'm Prince Lucifer himself.
So, in becoming my brides you are not losing
rank!"
Then he turned to Peter and chuckled.
" You see now, Peter, why you are my brother-
in-law. You're marrying one sister and I'm taking the
other two ! '
With that he picked up the two wicked sisters
under his arm and puff! with a whiff of sulphur they
all three disappeared through the ceiling.
The Princess Linka as she clung to her young
husband asked a little fearfully:
" Peter, do you suppose we'll have to see our brother-
in-law often ? "
270 THE DEVIL'S LITTLE BROTHER-IN-LAW
' Not if you make me a good wife," Peter said.
And you can understand what a good wife Linka
became when I tell you that never again all her life
long did she see the Devil.
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO SITS NEAR THE
GOLDEN GATE
THE SHOEMAKER'S APIIOX
THERE was once a shoemaker who made so
little at his trade that his wife suffered and
his children went hungry. In desperation he offered to
sell his soul to a devil.
' How much do you want for your soul? ' the
devil asked him.
" I want work enough to give me a good livelihood,"
the shoemaker said, ' so that my wife won't suffer
nor my children starve."
The devil agreed to this and the shoemaker put his
mark on the contract. After that trade improved and
soon the little shoemaker was happy and prosperous.
Now one night it happened that Christ and the
blessed St. Peter, who were walking about on earth,
stopped at the little shoemaker's cottage and asked
for a night's lodging. The shoemaker received them
most hospitably. He had his wife cook them a fine
supper and after supper he gave them his own bed to
sleep on while he and his wife went to the garret and
slept on straw.
In the morning he had his wife prepare them a good
273
274 THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
breakfast and after breakfast he took them on their
way for a mile or two.
As he was leaving them, St. Peter whispered to
Christ :
" Master, this poor man has given us of his best.
Don't you think you ought to reward him? '
Christ nodded and, turning to the little shoemaker,
he said:
" For your kindness to us this day I will reward
you. Make three wishes and they will be granted."
The shoemaker thanked Christ and said:
"Well then, these are my wishes: first, may who-
ever sits down on my cobbler's stool be unable to get
up until I permit him; second, may whoever looks into
the window of my cottage have to stand there until I
let him go; and third, may whoever shakes the pear-
tree in my garden stick to the tree until I set him free."
" Your wishes will be granted," Christ promised.
Then he and St. Peter went on their way and the
shoemaker returned to his cottage.
The years went by and at last one afternoon the
devil stood before the shoemaker and said:
' Ho, shoemaker, your time has come ! Are you
ready ? '
" Just let me have a bite of supper first," the
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON 275
shoemaker said. " In the meantime you sit down here
on my stool and rest yourself."
The devil who had been walking up and down the
earth since sunrise was tired and so was glad enough
to sit down.
After supper the little shoemaker said:
" Now then, I'm ready. Come on."
The devil tried to stand up but of course he
couldn't. He pulled this way and that. He stretched,
he rolled from side to side until his bones ached, but
all to no avail. He could not get up from the
stool.
"Brother!' he cried in terror, 'help me off
this cursed stool and I'll give you seven more years —
I swear I will! '
At that promise the shoemaker allowed the devil
to stand up, and the devil scurried off as fast as he
could.
He was true to his word. He didn't come back
for seven years. When he did come he was too clever
to risk sitting down again on the cobbler's stool. He
didn't even venture inside the cottage door. Instead,
he stood at the window and called out:
"Ho, shoemaker, here I am again! Your time has
come! Are you ready?'
276 THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
" I'll be ready in a moment," the shoemaker said,
" Just let me put a last stitch in these shoes."
When the shoemaker had finished sewing the shoes,
he put aside his work, bade his wife good-by, and said
to the devil:
" Now then, I'm ready. Let us go."
But the devil when he tried to move away from the
window found that he was held fast. It was as if
his feet had been soldered to the earth. In great
fright he cried out:
' Oh, my dear little shoemaker, help me! I can't
move! '
' What's this trick you're playing on me ? ' the
shoemaker said. ' Now I'm ready to go and you
aren't! What do you mean by making a fool of
me this way ? '
;< Just help me to get free," the devil cried, " and
I'll do anything in the world for you! I'll give you
seven more years ! I swear I will ! '
' Very well," the shoemaker said, ' then I'll help
you this time. But never again! Now remember: I
won't let you make a fool of me a third time ! '
So the shoemaker freed the devil from the window
and the devil without another word scurried off.
At the end of another seven years he appeared again.
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON 277
But this time he was too clever to look in the window.
He didn't even come near the cottage. Instead he
stood off in the garden under the pear-tree and called
out:
' Ho, there, shoemaker! Your time has come and
I am here to get you ! Are you ready ? '
' I'll be ready in a moment," the shoemaker said.
" Just wait until I put away my tools. If you feel
like it, shake yourself down a nice ripe pear."
The devil shook the pear-tree and of course when
he tried to stop he couldn't. He shook until all the
pears had fallen. He kept on and presently he had
shaken off all the leaves.
When the shoemaker came out and saw the tree
stripped and bare and the devil still shaking it, he
pretended to fall into a fearful rage.
'Hi, there, you! What do you mean shaking
down all my pears! Stop it! Do you hear me?
Stop it!"
" But I can't stop it! " the poor devil cried.
' We'll see about that ! ' the shoemaker said.
He ran back into the cottage and got a long leather
strap. Then he began beating the devil unmercifully
over his head and shoulders.
The devil made such an outcry that all the village
278 THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
heard him and came running to see what was the
matter.
"Help! Help!" the devil cried. "Make the
shoemaker stop beating me ! '
But all the people thought the shoemaker was doing
just right to punish the black fellow for shaking
down all his pears and they urged the shoemaker to
beat him harder.
' My poor head ! My poor shoulders ! ' the devil
moaned. ' If ever I get loose from this cursed
pear-tree I'll never come back here! I swear I
won't!"
The shoemaker, when he heard this, laughed in his
sleeve and let the devil go.
The devil was true to his word. He never again
returned. So the shoemaker lived, untroubled, to a
ripe old age.
Just before he died he asked that his cobbler's apron
be buried with him and his sons carried out his wish.
As soon as he died the little shoemaker trudged up
to heaven and knocked timidly at the golden gate. St.
Peter opened the gate a little crack and peeped out.
When he saw the shoemaker he shook his head and
said:
" Little shoemaker, heaven is no place for you.
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON 279
While you were alive you sold your soul to the ruler of
the other place and now you must go there."
With that St. Peter shut the golden gate and
locked it.
The little shoemaker sighed and said to himself:
' Well, I suppose I must go where St. Peter says."
So he put on a bold front and tramped down to
hell. When the devil who knew him saw him coming,
he shouted out to his fellow devils:
'Brothers, on guard! Here comes that terrible
little shoemaker! Lock every gate! Don't let him in
or he'll drive us all out of hell ! '
The devils in great fright scurried about and locked
and barred all the gates, and the little shoemaker when
he arrived could not get in.
He knocked and knocked but no one would answer.
They don't seem to want me here," he said to him-
self. ' I suppose I'll have to try heaven again."
So he trudged back to St. Peter and explained to
him that hell was locked up tight.
" No matter," St. Peter said. " As I told you be-
fore heaven is no place for you."
The little shoemaker, tired and dejected, went back
to hell but again the devils, when they saw him coming,
locked every gate and kept him out.
280 THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
In desperation the little shoemaker returned to
heaven and pounded loudly on the golden gate.
Thinking from the noise that some very important
saint had arrived, St. Peter flung open the gate. Quick
as a flash the little shoemaker threw his leather apron
inside, then hopped in himself under St. Peter's elbow
and squatted down on the apron.
In great excitement St. Peter tried to turn him out
of heaven, but the little shoemaker shouted:
"You can't touch me! You can't touch me! I'm
sitting on my own property! Let me alone!'
He raised such a hubbub that all the angels and
the blessed saints came running to see what was hap-
pening. Presently Lord Jesus himself came and the
little shoemaker explained to him how he just had to
stay in heaven as the devils wouldn't let him into
hell.
" Now, Master," St. Peter said, "what am I to do?
You know yourself we can't keep this fellow in
heaven."
But Lord Jesus, looking with pity on the poor little
shoemaker, said to St. Peter:
" Just let him stay where he is. He won't bother
any one sitting here near the gate."
CoLibri
COVER BOOK SY<
STORIES TO TELL
IT'S PERFECTLY TRUE AND OTHER STORIES. By HANS
CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. A new translation made from the Danish
by Paul Lc
THE TREASURE OF LI-PO. By ALICE RITCHIE. Six original fairy
tales of old China told with quiet beauty and real distinction,
A BAKER'S DOZEN. Selected by MARY GOULD DA^ Thirteen
pecially successful in Celling.
13 DANISH TALES. By MARY ( Robust, humorous folk
rales retold from J. < translation.
MORE DANISH TALES. By lively and
susing traditional Nt»»r
CZF.CHOSI \|RY TALES. By PARKER FILLMO*-
THJ WHI I; RIC.AKIHIN. Edited by Elizabeth
Yat' Tit nwall may well turn out to b.
i h.intine: illu — A/«'M
THE LAUGHING PKIN< IK 1 n .LMOKI Jugoslav
THE DANCING KETTLE, AND OTHER JAPANESE FOLK
TALES. By YOSHIKO U« HII»^ delightful collection of Japan
f ol I
J\i OUR UNUSUAL STORIES. By ANNA COGSV
T\ tery tales, legends and folklore.
ROOTABAt s. By CARL SANDBURG. An omnibus vol-
ume including all the stories originally published in the two books
'Rootabaga Sforics and Root aba ga Pigco
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